A Life of Its Own
by TheGirlin404
Summary: Did you know that Jane Rizzoli is the best Homicide Detective in Boston by day, but at night she leads a different life? Maura Isles is the best Medical Examiner the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has ever seen, but she has secrets too. Just what are their secrets and where will they lead? You'll have to read and find out...
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey Everyone! Well, I'm back again with another fic. Though this one is special. This fic, this wasn't my idea. My partner SoNfan1978 came to me with an idea for this story and asked me if we could work on it together. There's no one I would rather write with, so I said yes. Well here's the first chapter. Now at the end of this chapter we really need reviews to see how y'all like it. So, Enjoy!**

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She sat down at her laptop and logged into her writing account. It had been a long day, but she wanted to take another look at the reviews that had been left today on her latest chapter. She wasn't sure exactly how she had ended up here, a Homicide Detective by day, and an Author by night. She had started with a blog, just to have a place where she could write short little drabbles about her life; or, at least, how she wanted her life to be anyway.

For years now, she Jane Rizzoli, had been in love with her best friend. What can you do when you find yourself in love no possible way to tell the person you love them? Why you take to writing about it on the internet, or as least she had.

The drabbles had started as nothing more than a way she could get out some of the frustrations she had for not being able to share the feelings she had. They were just little pieces she posted where the characters of Jamie, a K-9 cop who patrolled the streets of Boston with her partner Bosco and Maria, the best Vet in Boston and the one most trusted by the BPD, had come to life. In the bits Jane could make up moments, or play others out, the way she wished they had happened. Eventually the drabbles became a little longer. Then she had an idea for a full length story for Jamie and Maria and how they met and fell in love.

When it came to the point that she was posting the whole story on her blog a reader had suggested a site where people could publish their own stories for free. It seemed like the best place to keep her story going where other people could take a look and read it over and tell her what they thought of it. Before she knew it the stories of Jamie and Maria had taken on a life of their own and it seemed like a lot of people were reading her story.

Well, having people by the hundreds who read her story was a lot to her. Furthermore, she couldn't believe there were people out there who wanted to follow her stories so they would get an email when she posted the next chapter and not miss anything going on with the story. And the people who followed her as an author; it was strange that so many actually thought that her writing was worthy of that.

Jane logged into her account and clicked on the reviews. She started to scroll through the new ones that had been left since she checked last night. They all seemed to be the same, 'Great Chapter!', 'Love it.', 'Post More Soon!' She liked every review that readers posted for her, but with this chapter she had been wanting a little more. This one had been hard to write. Exes for both Jamie and Maria had shown up in the picture and the ladies had to figure out how to deal with that and the jealousy they felt towards the others ex.

Finally the last review she came to she found more of what she had been looking for. It was from **me M.D. **and read, _"Nice chapter. I've been reading your stories since you started posting them, but I've never left a review before. I just wanted to tell you that I am thoroughly enjoying this follow up to your first story where Jamie and Maria fall in love. I know you said in your Author's Note that you weren't sure if this chapter worked well in the story or not. I wanted to tell you that I think it's quite relevant. Everyone comes into a new relationship with baggage and sometimes it shows up later on in the form of former partners. Trying not to be jealous of a former partner is a real struggle that occurs all the time. If Jamie and Maria were real people they seem like women who have good heads on their shoulders and though they may have an argument about something like this, they would be the kind to work it out and move on to the happier times that I'm sure would lie ahead for them. Though it is your story and not mine, so I guess I will just have to wait and see what fate holds for them in the story." _

That was the kind of review she had been looking for. Something telling her that someone understood the struggle Jamie and Maria had faced in the chapter. That even though they were faced with something like this now, there was a way that they would work it out; they could come out the other side and be okay. The stories had started out reflecting her life and, as much as she wanted it to be sunshine and daises, life wasn't that way. That meant her story didn't have to be either. Jamie and Maria had to have rough times too, just like everyone else.

This was one review she was going to have to respond to. Well, actually, she always tried to respond to every review that readers left; even if it was just, 'Great Chapter!' Her readers had been kind enough to at least say something, so she could be good enough to say something back, even it if was just a thanks for continuing to read her stories. This review though, with this one she was going to need something good to say; something definitely more eloquent than 'thanks for the review.'

She needed some time to think about what she was going to say to me M.D., so she decided to respond first to the other reviews that had been left that day. It didn't take Jane long to get through the other reviews and reply to them. By the time she was done with those though, she still wasn't sure she had come up with anything good enough to respond back to me M.D.

When she had finished typing up what she deemed an appropriate response to her reviewer she logged out of her account and prepared to shut down her computer. Normally she would try to spend some time writing in the evening, but tonight she just wasn't feeling it. It had been cold that day and her hands were starting to talk to her. So, she just closed the lid on her laptop and decided to leave the writing for another night.

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**Well, thank you so much for reading! This chapter was a little bit shorter than what we have planned for the future. Also do to our busy schedule I'm not sure how often we'll get to you with updates, but y'all know me: I hate to keep you waiting in suspense. So, if you want to encourage us to work a little faster leaving a review down there in that little box, could certainly help our motivation!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: We don't own it. Trust me, we wish we did. **

**AN: Wow. First off, thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who have read, followed, favorited, and reviewed. We have been blown away by the response to this fic so far. Second, for those of you who read the first chapter like right after it was first posted there has been a little name change. You see, I was in charge of uploading this fic to be posted and when I did that I missed the fact that it messed up the pen name, username, whatever you want to call of the person that Jane replied back to. It was only discovered by my partner SoNfan1978 after I had posted it for you. Then it became this kind of mad rush to try and figure out what to change it to and I kind of just picked something. Well, then I decided I wasn't happy with that and so we changed it again. So, if you get into this one and wonder why a certain someone's name looks a little different it's because we changed it and we are happy with this one, so it shouldn't change anymore. Anyway, thanks again. Enjoy!**

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It was after three in the afternoon and Maura had just returned to her desk from getting tea upstairs. It had been one of the longer days they'd had here lately. She had been called out early that morning for a triple homicide. It appeared evident to Jane and the other homicide detectives that it had been some sort of gang shooting which meant a joint investigation had to be done between homicide and the gang unit. That meant that she had to be twice as meticulous to make sure that everything was done to the standards of how both departments liked to have things. Plus, because there were two departments involved, it meant almost twice the paperwork that had to be completed. They had some forms that they shared, but there were several that had to be done twice even though the information was nearly identical they had their own order they wanted the information presented. It was a tedious process, to say the least.

Getting tea upstairs was the first time she had taken any sort of lengthy break since the call this morning. Now though, with all the paperwork she had to do complete, she decided to take a little bit of time for herself. So, she thought that she would take a moment to stop in and see if one of the few stories she had been reading on lately had been updated.

Maura logged into her account and clicked on **me M.D. **so she could check on her followed stories. Once the link opened for her she quickly found that none of the stories had been updated today. Thought she did notice that there was now a 1 beside the private messaging icon at the side of her account page. She wondered who could have sent her a message. She hadn't had many messages from people on the site; she was still rather new to the whole fiction reading process on the web.

She had discovered the site by accident. She had been googling quotes when she came across a quote that had been used in a story. She started reading the story and was hooked on reading many of the different kinds of stories that she had found there. Her favorite story she had read, so far, was of a K-9 cop Jamie and her love Maria, a Veterinarian who had helped to save the life of Jamie's K-9 partner, Bosco, when he was injured in the line of duty. A second story was now in being published and she waited, checking almost constantly for updates. Though she was sure the author had a busy life, she couldn't help but check in often with her account to see if there was anything new with the story. Something about it just drew her in, she couldn't explain it.

Maura clicked on the tab to open her private messaging inbox. She found that she had a message back from the author of her favorite set of stories, **jr. redsoxfangirl**. It was regarding the review she had left on the stories for the first time since they began. It read:

_Hello me M.D.,_

_I just want to say thank you so much for the review. Receiving your heartfelt review made me realize that there are people out there who do understand where I am coming from with this story. I feel like so much of my story writing is tied in with my feelings and it's hard for me to write and publish chapters sometimes because I've always been a really private person. You though, you seem to really understand where I'm coming from and it was wonderful to get a review with something other than 'great chapter' or 'post more soon.' It made me feel a lot more confident that I am on the right path with where I think this story is set to go and that it can get there. Thank you once again for your review and I hope you will continue to express your opinions and thoughts on my story because I would love to hear them. jr_

Maura leaned back in her chair sort of stunned at the message she had just read. She had a hard time believing that she had received a message back about a little review that she had left on a story. All she did was to tell the author the truth about what had been written, the way she saw it. She didn't think there was anything particularly special about it.

A smile did make its way to her face though. She was kind of flattered that a talented writer out there posting stories, and doing a great job of it so far, would want her thoughts or opinions on their stories. Though she did know the fundamentals of what went in to writing that didn't make her qualified to judge someone else's work.

"What are you smiling about like that?" a voice startled her out of her thoughts on the message.

Maura looked up to see Jane standing just a couple of feet from her desk. Not good. She couldn't very well tell Jane she had been reading lesbian fiction and was smiling because the author of it liked a review she had left on the work. Well, she could tell Jane she'd been reading lesbian fiction, but something told her that was a conversation to have another day. Like on a day when she could say, by the way I've been in love with you for years now.

She needed something to say fast. "Oh, I just got some good news, nothing too major, but with the day we've had so far it seems major enough." Hopefully Jane would take the lead in to their day and they could successfully change the subject.

"What kind of good news?" Jane asked as she started to lean over the desk to have a look at Maura's computer screen.

Nope, Jane hadn't gone for it. Maura quickly minimized the screen she had open for her fiction account, so the only thing Jane would see would be the work top where everything for BPD went in and out to the respective departments.

"Just that a couple of pair of shoes I ordered should be here tomorrow." Shit, she could feel the hives starting already. She just hoped she could get Jane out of her office fast enough that she wouldn't notice them. "How's the investigation coming?" she tried once again steering the conversation in a new direction while not reaching up to scratch her neck at the itchy hives she could feel popping up.

"The gang unit says that it looks similar to the case they had a few weeks back that Crowe was the lead on." Maura watched as Jane's lip kind of turned up in a snarl when she had to mention Det. Crowe's name, but she continued. "While they're sure of whom it is behind it, they don't have all of the evidence needed to make any kind of charges stick. So, it looks like this one basically has to be turned over to the gang unit. Whenever there's some kind of break then they'll get the perps responsible."

"I'm sorry Jane," Maura said as she sat forward in her chair.

"For what?"

"I know how much you hate having cases go cold or having to turn them over. That you really want to see a perp caught and justice for the victim."

"Ah, well, I think the gang unit knows what's going on and truth be told they probably have an undercover agent in there. They just can't blow his cover right now. So, they'll sit on it a while and then when the timing is right and they can make a big bust and have air tight evidence then the perps will pay for it."

Maura was slightly surprised at what she was hearing from Jane. Usually Jane would have been the first one upset that they wouldn't be able to get their man. "Are you alright?" Maura decided to ask her.

"Yeah," Jane replied. "Just a little tired I guess: it's been a long day. You want to head upstairs and get something to drink?"

Maura held up her cup. "Sorry," she said with a disappointed look on her face. "I got back from up there not too long before you came in and I have a couple of things I need to take care of anyway."

"Ah, okay then. I'll just see you later."

"Mhmm," Maura said as she nodded at Jane.

Jane turned on her heel and left Maura's office. She threw a small wave over her shoulder as she headed out. Maura watched her through the blinds on the windows until she was sure she had gone all the way to the elevator.

She clicked on the tab to pull the message back up and she scanned over it again. She also reached into the top drawer of her desk and pulled out a Benadryl to relieve the itching. She was still in mild shock that someone who was publishing stories wanted her opinions on their story. She knew she needed to reply back, but she had to come up with just the right thing.

Maura sat for a few minutes trying to come up with the right words to send back to jr. redsoxfangirl. She needed something that would show her appreciation of jr wanting her to give opinions of her stories; without it looking as though she were too eager to give her opinions on the story.

When she felt that she had just the right response she hit the send button and watched the screen refresh and show her message as posted. With that she logged out of her account and got back to the little bit of paperwork she had left to do for the say so she could go home.

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**So? We'd love to know what you're thinking! Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Still don't own it. Still wish we did. **

**AN: Hey y'all! So, I don't think we were entirely ready to publish another chapter yet, but I twisted my partner's arm (not really she gave in pretty easily when I asked) and she agreed because this is kind of a special day for me. A year ago today I published my first fanfic for you readers and I wanted to post something for you on my anniversary. Man, what a year it has been! I went from thinking no one would read or like what I'd written to meeting some of the most awesome people in the world who read my fics and other amazingly talented writers. And even meeting one who is awesome enough that she wants to let me write with her on this story. Thank you Bee, for being so amazing this past year. I know I wouldn't be where I'm at now if it weren't for you. Anyway, enough with that, let's get to reading. Enjoy!**

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She stuck her key in the lock and felt it slide back as she turned it. She opened the door and flipped the light switch beside it to shed a little more light into the room, other than the couple of lamps that she left burning this morning when she went to work. It had been a long couple of days at the precinct: starting with the triple homicide they had caught a few days back that had to be turned over to the gang unit. Since then they had two other cases and it felt like they'd been all over the country trying to track down everyone they needed to interview. She'd gotten home late the last couple of nights and right now she was just glad that she had the day off tomorrow.

Jane laid her keys down on the table near the door and set about securing her service weapon. When she had finished that she started looking around; something was off. That was when she saw it. Jo. Jo was already curled up fast asleep at the end of the sofa where she normally sat to watch TV. She smiled, but sighed at the same time. Frankie had been over the last couple of days to take care of her because she had been coming in so late. She felt bad that she hadn't had time with her fur baby. She would have to consider taking Jo to the dog park tomorrow to make up for it.

She took one last look at Jo and started to turn off the lights and lamps she had on in the apartment. Right now there were only a couple of things on her mind. The first was a shower. The second one, sleep.

Somewhere though in the back of her mind stirred the ways in which she could work out Jamie and Maria's relationship. While she didn't want to make their argument too big, certainly not as big of a one as she and Maura had dealt with after the whole warehouse incident, she knew it couldn't end too easily either or else it would seem fake.

Ultimately though, the story would have to wait a little longer. The detective was already wrapped up in her nice warm bed after her shower. Though her writing was important to her, her breaths were already starting to lengthen and even out. Sleep was going to claim her before she could decide anything significant about Jamie and Maria.

R&amp;I

Jane sat down at her laptop. She looked down at the time on the clock in the corner and briefly wondered where most of the day had gone. Then she realized that she had slept in late given the fact that she had worked so late for the last few days.

Overall though she couldn't complain too much. After she had gotten up and had breakfast she took Jo down the road to the dog park. Jo got to spend time with other dogs, instead of just a giant turtle, and they had some time where they got to play fetch together.

Now though, her fur baby was curled up on her dog bed snoozing away. So, Jane had decided to use the rest of her down time today to work on the upcoming chapters for her story. She already had written through the point where jealousy gets the better of both Jamie and Maria and they had an argument. Now, after a couple of days without speaking to each other she needed to find a way that they couldn't ignore each other any longer.

Jane sat for a bit, concentrating on what could happen that would make Jamie and Maria need to speak to each other. She sat back in her chair for a moment and looked over at Jo sleeping peacefully on her bed. Suddenly, she had the inspiration that she needed to get the girls speaking to each other. The words suddenly flew from her mind and through her fingertips to the keyboard. They were flowing so freely she barely had time to keep up with what she was writing, let alone know if it made perfect sense at the moment. Though that was what editing was for, she would go back and double check it later.

More than an hour later Jane finally put the finishing touches, for now, on the latest chapter. She decided to log in and check the stats of her story to see if she wanted to get it edited now and post it or wait a couple of days in case there had been some readers that hadn't had a chance to look at the last chapter she had posted a few days ago. Once she had logged into the site she clicked on the link to take her into the heart of her account where she could check everything. Just as she was about to click for the traffic stats she noticed that there was a new message in her inbox.

The idea that someone would have sent her a message intrigued her. She had chatted with a couple of people in the past, but no one here lately. She racked her brain to try and remember if there was anyone important she had had contact with in the last few days. She couldn't think of anything other than the few reviewers she had replied to thanking them for reading and reviewing the latest chapter. She clicked on the inbox and in bold she saw a new message from me M.D.

Ah yes, in the hustle and bustle of the last few days she had forgotten about that special reviewer she had sent the longer message to thanking her for reviewing and glad that someone understood some of what she was trying to convey in her story. She clicked on the message, curious about what it was that her reader had sent back to her. It read:

_jr., _

_I have to say that I am truly flattered that a writer such as yourself would like my opinion on your future chapters. You know, I can't quite explain it, but your story just speaks to me. I feel as though I have been drawn into the plot and am actually watching take place as if I were a character within your story. In your previous chapter I actually felt as though I was there watching it all unfold before my eyes. It would be an honor to continue to share my opinions with you in the future. I am very much looking forward to the next chapter being posted. _

_Until next time, _

_me _

_P.S. Just in case, how are you with criticism?_

A big grin broke out on her face at reading the post script. She was certainly glad about having someone who would give their honest opinions on her work rather than just trying to flatter her all the time like some of her past readers. She fired off a quick response to me M.D. and hit the send button on the message.

A knock sounded off the wood of her front door just as she was about to click on the traffic stats and get around to checking them. She closed out the web browser and closed up her laptop. She wondered who would come over in the middle of the afternoon. Before she could get across the room another knock came at the door.

Jane grabbed the handle with one hand as she reached up and flipped the lock back with the other. She then undid the chain on the door and cracked it open a little bit. Maura stood there with a six pack in her hand. Jane considered pinching herself because this was eerily similar to the way a couple of her dreams had started in the past.

Maura gave her a curious glance before asking, "Can I come in?"

Jane shook her head slightly to clear the haze that had crept in, "Uh, yeah, sorry." She stepped back and opened the door wider so Maura could make her way into the apartment.

Jane watched as Maura walked to the fridge and placed the beer inside. "So, what's going on?"

Maura closed the door to the refrigerator and turned to look at Jane. "I thought we could have movie night; order in pizza. Is that okay? I can go if you have something else you need to do."

"No!" Jane yelped a little too eagerly. "I mean, that sounds great. It's been a while since we've had movie night. Why don't you pick out what you want to see and I'll get started making some popcorn?"

Maura moved to the DVD cabinet in the living room and Jane breathed a sigh of relief. What on earth had made her so nervous around Maura just then? She set into getting the popcorn ready.

R&amp;I

Jane leaned back on the couch taking a bite of another slice of pizza. At the end of their first movie they had decided to order and it was delivered a little while ago. They had started the evening on almost opposite ends of the couch, but had slowly worked their way towards each other.

Now that they were pulling pizza slices from the same box Maura was so close they were almost touching. Jane could reach out and throw her arm around her if she wanted. Correction, Jane could throw her arm around Maura if she _chose _to; she wanted to, a lot, but no, she couldn't. Things just weren't like that and she didn't want to do something like that when it meant one thing to her and would mean something completely different to Maura. On the other hand though, what if she did do it and Maura liked it and then they could finally be honest with each other? She made up her mind. No pain, no gain.

Jane started to reach out; hesitantly. Just as she was about to make it around Maura the chirping of a ringtone could be heard. Jane tensed. She was sure hers was about to go off any second as well. Maura hopped up from the couch and to her purse and reached inside to retrieve her cellphone.

"Ah, it's my mother," Maura said as Jane clicked the pause button on the remote. "Hello mother," Maura said answering the call.

Jane leaned sideways and back on the couch to she could get a look at Maura. Maura was currently pacing a small path across the floor as she spoke on the phone. There was a lot of head nodding on this end of the phone. She had no idea what Constance could be saying on the other end.

Suddenly Maura burst out with, "Wow, that sounds great mother! I would be happy to."

More head nodding. "Yes, I'm sure she would love to come too."

Jane froze. She couldn't be completely certain here, but she was pretty sure she had just entered the conversation. It didn't sound too good for her.

"Alright mother, we will see you next week then. I can't wait… Bye." And then Maura clicked the end button on her phone. She took a moment to slide the phone back in her purse before she turned her attention to Jane.

Jane tried her hardest to give off an evil glare to let Maura know she was most likely not happy with whatever she had just been dragged into.

"My mother is going to be in town next week for an opening at a new gallery. She wants us to come."

They were still working on Maura's skills for reading facial expressions, otherwise she wouldn't have said that if she knew what Jane's facial expression had meant.

Jane plastered on a fake smile quickly though before replying, "Great. That sounds like fun." Even if she wasn't happy about having to attend an event like that she really did mean what she'd just said. It didn't really matter what they were doing. If she was spending time with Maura the chances were she wouldn't mind the activity one bit and have a little bit of fun.

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**So? Y'all know what I'm going to say now right? We would love to hear from you on what you thought about this chapter, so click on down there in that little box and leave us a review, or a comment, or a joke, or something. Thanks for reading, looking forward to hearing what you think!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Still don't own it. Still wish we did.**

**AN: Hey y'all! Who's ready for another chapter? Well, I hope so because here it is! Really quick though we just want to say thank you to all of you who have read, followed, favorited, and reviewed on this chapter. There was one review I wanted to mention really quick that came with the last chapter. A Guest Reviewer wondered if anyone had ever fallen in love via fanfiction. My two cents; I'd say it is a possibility. Anyway, on with the chapter. Enjoy!**

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Maura pulled her robe tighter around her as she made her way down the stairs. She had left Jane's not too long after the end of the second movie. Jane had acted a little strange after she got off the phone with her mother; a little more distant. She hoped that Jane wasn't upset that she had accepted her mother's invitation for both of them to attend the gallery opening.

Maura made her way over to the coffee machine to start the "complicated," as Jane would call it, process of making her coffee just the way she liked it. She couldn't help but smile at thinking about Jane and the way she fussed over certain things. Though, she hoped that maybe Jane did the same about her.

She stopped herself right there. She tried to refrain from thinking that way about Jane. She had always been one of those people who didn't bother with 'what if' scenarios. They were generally a waste of time, where it could be better spent. Though, somewhere along the line after she met Jane she found herself one of those people who asked themselves 'what if.' Mainly she had limited those scenarios to 'what if Jane really could or did' love her the same way she loved Jane.

Maura sighed and shook her head. She picked up her freshly made cup of coffee over to the breakfast bar on the backside of the kitchen island and sat down. She pulled her laptop over to her and opened it up. She needed to start looking around for something to wear to the gallery opening that was this next Friday night. Though she was sure there was most likely something in her closet that would suit she couldn't help but look online.

Once she had been through a couple of sites and not found anything that had interested her she decided to check on the stories she had been reading. She had been so busy for the past few days that she had forgotten to look and see if any of them had been updated.

She logged into her account and went to check her favorite stories list to check on the ones she kept there. One of them had been updated, but she wasn't much interested in it. It had taken a turn for the worse for the characters, almost as though the author had either lost their mind, or really just didn't care about the story any longer.

Maura looked at the side where all of different tabs were and noticed that there was a 1 beside her private message tab. She clicked into her inbox and noticed a new message from . She opened the message and read:

_Oh, I see how it is. You leave me a nice review just to butter me up before you decide to tell me what you really think about my work? Well, criticize away then. _

_jr _

Maura almost spit her sip of coffee back into her mug as she read the note. She was horrified. She hadn't meant it at all to sound like she had something critical to say about jr's story. This wasn't good; she hadn't intended to offend the author of her favorite set of stories.

She quickly clicked in the message box below and started to type up a new message. She couldn't leave jr thinking that she was going to criticize her writing or stories.

R&amp;I

Jane stumbled her way out of her bedroom and over to the kitchen. She moved directly over to the fridge. She grabbed the carton of orange juice out and took a slug. She paused for a moment wondering when exactly she had purchased orange juice. It tasted okay though, so she took another swig. Then she thought about how Maura would be chastising her for drinking directly from the carton so she grabbed a glass and poured herself some more to have while she waited for coffee to make.

With the orange juice poured and sitting on the counter, Jane moved over to the coffee maker. Usually she might just do instant, but today she had time to actually brew coffee for a change. She got everything ready and hit the on button.

Now she had some time to kill before her coffee would be ready. She walked over and grabbed her laptop and set it down in front of her chair on the breakfast bar. She flipped it open and opened her story to the latest chapter. She knew she still had a little bit of proofing to do on it before she could post it.

She set about getting it proofread once more and made the necessary corrections as she found them. She finally saved it one last time just as her coffee had finished brewing. She got up from her chair and stretched out a little bit before she walked over and poured herself a mug of coffee. She took a sip and smiled at herself. She'd gotten just the right amount of sugar in it.

Jane walked back over to her laptop. She pulled up her web browser and navigated into her fiction account. She clicked on the publishing tab so she could create a new document for the latest chapter. She named the document and copied and pasted from her laptop to the new document and hit save. Now she just needed to decide on something to say in her author's note and she could add that and then post it later.

Just as she was about to sign out of her account Jane notice a little flashing number beside her messaging tab. She couldn't recall ever seeing the number flash like that before. She opened her message box and clicked to her inbox. She had a new message from me M.D. She clicked to open the message and just underneath the message she saw a smaller message that said, _'This user is currently online. Would you like to see if they want to chat with you?'_

She took a look at the message. She couldn't help but smile and roll her eyes a little. She hit the yes under the smaller message and watched as it brought up another screen that said 'trying to connect you to chat.' About two seconds later the chat had popped up showing both her pen name and me's. Jane quickly typed and hit enter.

_jr: Morning. Thanks for agreeing to chat with me. This must be a new feature. I've never conversed with anyone other than through pm's before._

It was a couple of minutes before she got a response.

_me: Hello. Good morning to you too. I just want to say that I am so sorry about that message. I didn't mean to insinuate that I was going to be critical of your writing. _

_jr: No. Please in fact I was just about to reply to your message when I realized we could chat. I wanted to tell you that I was just teasing you about that message. I didn't mean it. In fact, I'm sorry. I joke around a lot and I tend to forget that when typing there aren't facial expressions or tones of inflection from a voice to pick up on that I was just teasing. _

_me: Oh. Well, even in person sometimes I struggle with picking up on those things. So, you aren't insulted or upset that I asked about criticisms?_

_jr: Not in the least. In fact I could probably use a few criticisms every now and then. I gladly welcome any and all of your criticisms and opinions that you may have about my work or future works. _

_me: Ok, if you're sure that you don't mind. I was just curious as to how you would react if I did send an opinion that you didn't necessarily like. I am a very honest person. A little too honest at times, some would say, and that can tend to cause problems with people who don't like hearing the truth. _

_jr: Nah, I don't mind the truth one bit. In fact, I like to get the whole truth on things. I find it generally makes things easier. _

_me: I find the same. _

_jr: So, since you said good morning as well I take it that you must be fairly close to me here somewhere; as in the U.S. and not across the pond or anything. _

_me: No, I don't live in England or Europe. If you're pen name suggests anything about where you live then I would have to say that I am fairly near you, in fact. _

_jr: Oh really now? You're close to Boston then? _

_me: You could say that. ;-)_

_jr: Cool. I haven't met anyone on here that was quite that close by before. _

Maura wasn't sure why she had felt it necessary to tell jr that she lived near Boston, or what stopped her from just telling jr that she was in Boston. They chatted for a while longer; just about insignificant things. Maura found that when she really liked chatting with jr.

Generally when talking to someone for the first time she felt awkward or nervous about it; constantly worried that she may say or do the wrong thing. Though, she supposed, since they were only interacting through the internet and computers there wasn't much chance that she could do the wrong thing. But, she found herself not even worried about the fact that she would say the wrong thing; she was completely at ease with jr.

She had just caught on to the fact that jr was teasing her again when the back door opened and Angela walked through. She was a little bit early to be heading over to start prepping for dinner that evening, but Maura figured that she just had a dish that was a little more complicated to prepare in mind.

"Morning Maura," Angela greeted her.

"Good Morning Angela," she replied back with a big grin on her face. "It's a little early to start, prepping for dinner isn't it?"

Angela's eyebrows creased as she gave Maura a look of confusion. "Maura, it's closing in on the middle of the afternoon. Everyone is going to be here in less than four hours and I have homemade lasagna to make."

Maura's eyes shot down to the clock at the corner of the laptop. Her face showed the shocked expression on her face to be finding out what time it was already. She had been talking to jr for hours now and had completely lost track of the time. She needed to get upstairs and get dressed so she could help Angela prepare for tonight's family dinner.

She quickly typed up a message to send to jr:

_me: Hey, I am so sorry, but I completely lost track of the time. I have some things I need to do. Can we talk again sometime? _

A few seconds later she received:

_jr: Oh, wow. I lost track of the time too. I have to get going too if I'm not going to be late meeting my family. Yes, we'll definitely talk again later on. Have a great day. _

_me: Thank you. Have a great time with your family._

Before anything else could be said between them Maura signed off of the chat. She knew she had to or else she might spend the rest of the day talking with jr. She logged out of her account and clicked out of her browser before she closed the lid on her laptop. She stood up from her chair and looked over at Angela.

"I'll be back momentarily to help you start to getting everything prepared."

"Whoa, wait a minute," Angela said assessing the scene she had walked in on. "What's going on? What were you doing?"

"Oh, I was just chatting with a friend on the internet and lost track of the time, that's all. I'll be right back."

"Maura, that's awesome! You signed up with one of those internet dating sites. I've heard some great things about those. So, tell me, what does he look like?"

Of course Angela wasn't going to let her off that easily. She was going to have to quickly come up with something to say that would appease Angela so she could get upstairs. "You know, I'm not entirely sure," she said with ease. It was the truth; she had no idea what jr looked like. The rest came out just as naturally as the last line, "This sight doesn't really place an emphasis on looks. It tries to be more about the mind."

Angela gave her a slightly disappointed look at the thought that Maura couldn't tell her she had been chatting with a hunk of a man on the internet all morning. So, she shrugged her shoulders and turned back to her pots she had sitting on the stove.

Maura took that as her opportunity to get away. She grabbed her laptop up off of the counter and made her way to her bedroom with it. This could turn into a long evening if Angela got it in her mind to try and help her with her dating life. She hoped above all else that Angela decided this wasn't one place where she would need to interfere.

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**Thanks for reading! Now click in that little box and tell us what you think, we'd love to hear it! See y'all next time. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Still don't own anything related to R&amp;I.**

**AN: Hey everyone! Wow, we've hit the 100 followers mark. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who are following, favoriting, reviewing, and everyone who has been reading. We greatly appreciate it because we wouldn't be here without you. Sorry that this update has taken a little longer than the others. Along with this being a fairly long chapter because of everything we wanted it to contain we struggled with exactly how to get this one out, and I've been a little reluctant to publish it as a result of that. Plus along with school I had a family member in the hospital. So, my apologies. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**

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"Hey Ma," Jane said as she entered the kitchen. She sat down the bottle of wine that she had brought with her and kissed her mother on the cheek.

Angela wasn't fooled. She knew her daughter was trying to make up for being a half an hour later than she said she'd be here. "Nice to see you, finally."

Whoops, she was in the doghouse, obviously. "I'm sorry Ma. I got busy with things this morning and lost track of time."

"Hmm," Angela muttered curiously as she stirred her sauce on the stove one last time. She was almost ready to assemble the lasagna and get it in the oven to cook together. "Losing track of time seems to be the theme of the day."

"What? Hey, where is Maura anyway?"

"She had to run back up to her room and do something. She probably wants to message her new man one more time."

"Say what?" Jane asked looking incredulously at her mother.

"Yeah. She's decided to try that internet dating thing with one of those sites. She was all giggly and had lost complete track of time when I got here a little while ago. Between the two of you I've done most of the work today, so you get dishes later."

"Awe, Ma," Jane whined. "I said I was sorry and there's still plenty left to do. There's still salad and bread to get done and then the boys can do the dishes."

"Don't push me Jane Clem—"

"Okay, okay," Jane cut her off. She'd do anything if she could just keep her mother from pulling out the middle name on her.

"What's going on in here?" Maura asked entering the kitchen. "I believe that I heard a middle name being used." Maura turned her attention solely to Jane. "What did you do Jane?"

"Nothing," Jane said trying to convey her innocence to her friend.

Maura just gave her an 'Oh, really?' look. Maura must be spending more time with her mother than she realized, because she never used to have looks like that.

"Honest," Jane tried again. "Ma said that since I was late I would have to do the dishes. I was just trying to point out that at least I was here now helping and that the boys should have to do them because they weren't here helping at all."

Maura walked over to the counter and grabbed her apron to help Angela finish off the lasagna so it could go in the oven. "She has a point Angela. She is here now helping. Besides I haven't helped as much as I said I would since I lost track of time."

"I know," Angela replied. "That's why I meant that you could do them together."

Maura cocked an eyebrow and turned to look at Jane. "Well it looks like we're stuck on dish duty tonight Jane."

Jane popped a cherry tomato meant for the salad into her mouth while giving a little whine of her disapproval of that idea. She wouldn't say anything else on that subject; she knew she had been overruled.

She leaned against the counter before saying, "So, Ma was telling me that you're internet dating now."

Maura froze. Of course Angela would have to say something about it. She cleared her throat before speaking. "I have been talking to a couple of people online. I wouldn't exactly call it internet dating." _Or dating at all_, she thought to herself.

"Oh," Jane commented. She tried to put a smile on her face. Inside she felt like someone had just stepped in her heart. It hurt to be in love with her best friend and not be able to tell her. It was a whole other gruelingly painful experience having to watch Maura date someone. She always became jealous that some guy could do all the things with Maura that she wanted to do, but couldn't.

"You should try that internet dating thing Janie. Find yourself a man, ya know," her mother said while sliding the lasagna dish into the oven.

Jane rolled her eyes to her mother's turned back. She had decided a while ago she wasn't going back down that road. There would absolutely be no more men in her life, romantically speaking. Her only other problem was that she only wanted one woman. One she had at least a 99.9 percent chance of never getting.

Maura went quiet on the other side of the kitchen. She watched Jane to see what she thought of her mother's idea of both of them internet dating. Jane looked disgusted by her mother's suggestion that she internet date. That made her just a little bit happy on the inside.

She hated the person Jane became when she was dating. She became this girly girl who would swoon and go all mushy with a man around. She loved that Jane had a sensitive side and that she often had the opportunity to see it more than others, but when Jane dated her sensitive side took on a whole new persona.

She also loved Jane's rough and tough exterior that Angela always said would scare men away. She loved that Jane could dominate in a field prominently dominated by men. She was a woman who could hold her own and didn't let what other people thought of her stop her from doing anything she wanted.

"Okay, salad and bread. One of you on each," Angela said pulling both women out of their thoughts about the other. "Everyone will be here soon."

Both women hopped to a task; Maura on bread duty because she was the closest to it, and Jane on the salad. Although, Jane wasn't too sure she should be trusted with that task. Occasionally when using a knife her hand would tend to slip and she'd nick a finger. She wasn't really up for protesting anything else right now though, so she set about the task trying to be as careful as possible. No one wanted to end up with anything extra in the food tonight.

R&amp;I

Jane pulled up into Maura's driveway and parked her cruiser. She looked down at the clock; a little early. Then again, even if she were a little late Maura probably still wouldn't be ready. She shook her head. Really it didn't matter to her. Even though she thought that Maura was stunning in the morning in her pajamas with no makeup and messy bedhead, she would let Maura do whatever she felt necessary to feel that way.

Jane got out of the car and made her way over to the front door. She turned the knob only to find it locked. She smiled to herself; Maura was finally getting into the habit of locking the door. She grabbed her keys from her pocket and unlocked the door.

"Maur, it's me!" She called up the stairs as she entered into the house. She didn't want to have Maura come down and be startled by the fact that she was in the house.

"I'll be right down," she heard in reply drift faintly down the stairs.

She made herself at home on the couch and flipped on the flat screen to ESPN. She might as well catch some highlights as she waited. Just as they were getting around to the games she cared about Jane heard movement at the top of the stairs. She turned her attention in that direction.

Her breath caught in her throat when she saw Maura gliding down the stairs. Maura was in the perfect little black dress and just the right heels to go with it. She looked drop dead gorgeous. She had trouble swallowing past a lump that had formed in her throat. It was going to be hard trying to keep her hands off of Maura.

"Wow," she sort of just breathed out as she stood from the couch and turned off the TV.

Maura's eyes assessed her from head to toe for a moment. "You don't look so bad yourself," Maura said smiling at how Jane's mouth was still slightly open. That had been the effect she was hoping for when she picked out the dress.

"You ready to go?"

"Quite," Maura replied. "Do you want to drive?"

"Sure."

"We'll take my car."

"Okay," Jane said accepting the keys Maura held out towards her. She looked down at them and smiled at the emblem she saw on the key fob. "Really?" she couldn't help but ask.

Maura just looked at her and nodded.

"Sweet! I can't believe you are going to let me drive the Mercedes."

"I do trust that you can handle it and obey traffic laws, so I see no reason why we shouldn't go to the opening in it."

Jane deflated a little bit. She knew there would be a catch to getting to take the Mercedes. Then she thought of something else. "Wait," she said turning to face Maura square on. "You just want to show off a little bit for all the people who are going to be there and don't necessarily approve of you being a medical examiner, don't you?"

"I think I'll have to plead the fifth on that one Detective Rizzoli," Maura said smiling coyly as she headed out the door to the car.

In all honesty she was really only taking the car for Jane. She knew how much Jane hated to attend functions like this, but Jane always agreed to go with her anyway and she greatly appreciated it. Jane didn't like big displays of any kind, but she had always loved the car. So, this was one way that Maura could show Jane her thanks for always coming to these events with her.

R&amp;I

Now, it's not that the drive to the gallery they were going to took that long, but to Jane it sure seemed that way when she had to obey the traffic laws. For the most part, their trip so far had been made quietly. Well, there was Yo-Yo Ma playing softly as some background noise. Maura had been kind enough to let her drive the Mercedes, the least she could let Maura do was listen to whatever she wanted.

She looked over at Maura and noticed that she had pulled out her phone. It looked like Maura was checking her emails. Apparently she hadn't gotten one that she wanted because her face crinkled in a small frown and she looked disappointed. "What's up?" she decided to ask.

Maura looked up at her. "It's nothing important, Jane. I was just checking for something and didn't find it."

"Well it must be at least a little important; you seem disappointed that you didn't get it."

Honestly, she was rather disappointed that she hadn't heard back from jr yet. The author had posted the next part of her story and she had reviewed. Since then they had exchanged a couple messages back and forth, but not the way she had hoped they would keep talking after last Sunday.

She felt conflicted. She had never met someone who she just seemed to connect to the way she had jr. She wondered if it was possible to fall in love with someone you'd never met before.

Wait, what was she thinking? There couldn't be any way that she was falling in love with someone she'd met online, less than a week ago, and only minimally conversed with through the internet. She shook her head to herself.

"No, it's alright Jane. Let's just get to the opening and concentrate on having a good time," she said smiling at her friend.

Jane nodded at her quickly and turned her attention back to the road. Still though, it felt as though something were up with Maura. She couldn't place her finger on it, but it seemed like she had started to become a little more distant lately. She should probably keep a watch on whatever could be going on.

R&amp;I

Jane followed Maura around the gallery as she explained to her about the paintings. Art had never really been her thing, and Maura knew that as well, but listening to Maura speaking and explaining the art to her was her thing. So, she happily trailed along after as they browsed the artists' works.

"Hello Maura," a voice came from behind them.

They both turned at the sound of the voice. Both jaws also dropped a little when they caught a glimpse of the person the voice belonged to.

"Hello Ian," Maura replied coolly. "What brings you here?"

Jane took a couple of steps back so she could take in more of the scene. Well for that reason, and so that she could have a little bit of distance between herself and Ian. She was afraid she might haul off and slug him for the way he had treated Maura in the past. He would deserve it, but Maura wouldn't deserve the attention the disruption would cause. She considered arresting him, there had to be some kind of charge she could come up with, but that would cause a lot of attention as well. She'd let him go for now.

"I'm stateside for the time being," he announced. "I had to take a leave of absence and so I've had some free time. I decided to get back into the art scene and was invited to this opening. I must say, I was hoping I would see you here this evening."

"Oh, that's nice," Maura replied. "I'm glad you've found the chance to do some of the things you've been missing."

Jane inched herself closer towards Maura. She wasn't sure why, but she felt the need to be closer to her all of a sudden.

"Can I get you another drink?" Ian asked pointing towards the nearly empty champagne flute in Maura's hand.

Jane almost growled at him. She couldn't believe he was here trying to work his way back into Maura's life.

"No thank you," Maura replied back to him instantaneously. "Jane and I were right in the middle of viewing the pieces. I think we'll get back to that."

Jane's eyebrows shot up at the tone that Maura had just used with Ian. It was one of complete dismissal. Nonetheless, she stuck her arm out for Maura to take a hold of and Maura did. They walked off into another part of the gallery before she stopped their movement and turned to look at Maura.

"What?" Maura questioned her as they stopped.

"Are you okay?"

Maura took in a deep breath and she looked deep into Jane's eyes. "Yes, Jane. I am perfectly fine."

"But that was Ian?"

"Jane, I got over him a long time ago. I'm not in the slightest interested in going anywhere near that path again. Besides, I hope there's a much better one that will lie just ahead for me. Now, I think over there are some works of up and coming artists I'd like to show you, if that's alright."

Jane smiled at her best friend as she started to follow her. She was happy that Maura had gotten over Ian finally. Though, she couldn't help but wonder what Maura meant about a much better path lying just ahead. Had she really met someone? She thought her mother had just been blowing things out of proportion like she always did at their last family dinner. Maybe she hadn't been though.

R&amp;I

Constance was standing to the side of her work being displayed in the gallery this evening. Her plane had arrived late this morning throwing her whole schedule off, so she had arrived late at the opening. Now, she was trying to get everyone greeted who had come to look at the artwork. She knew Maura was in here somewhere with Jane, but they had probably come here first and it would be a while before they made their way back. That was alright though, there were still plenty of people she had left to speak with.

She turned and caught sight of a man she didn't think she would ever lay eyes on again approaching her. "Hello Ian," she greeted flashing him a fake smile and extending her hand to him. He leaned in to kiss the back of her hand and it was all she could do to keep from noticeably shuddering. There had always been something about him that she didn't like.

"Hello, Mrs. Isles. You're looking radiant this evening," he complimented her.

He wanted something. The only time he laid on a compliment that thick was when he was after something. Still she kept her fake smile in place and decided to continue the conversation so she could be done with him as quickly as possible. "How are you doing?"

"Oh, quite well," he replied. "I had to take a leave of absence from work, so I've been stateside now for a time. Things around here sure have changed, including that lovely daughter of yours. She seems to prefer hanging around with the common folk more these days I see."

At that moment they could both hear a laugh, although faint at this end of the room, over the noise of the crowd. Constance caught sight of Jane and Maura along with a couple of other people having a good laugh about something: probably a joke of some kind Jane had made. She could tell from the moment that she met Jane she was quite a charmer, but only when she wanted to be.

"You're right," Constance said looking back at him from the scene she had witnessed at the other end of the room. "Though, unlike you seem to, I quite prefer the woman my daughter has become from 'hanging around the common folk.'"

"Well, I was going to ask her out this evening and hopefully pick up with our relationship where we left off, but I don't think I'd like to go out with her if that's the way she prefers to act these days," he said haughtily.

"That's perfectly fine, Ian." She glanced down the room once more to see the close proximity that her daughter and Jane were sharing, and she felt herself smile at the happiness the detective had brought to her daughter. "I believe my daughter is already taken."

R&amp;I

"Jane, look, my mother finally made it." Maura commented just as she had finished telling Jane about one of the pieces.

"You go on over, and I'm going to get you both a drink. I'll be right behind you."

Maura nodded and walked away from Jane and towards her mother near the other end of the room. It had been quite some time since she had seen her mother and it was good to finally see her again. She certainly looked better than the last time she had seen her after her mother had taken a hit from a car to get her out of harm's way.

Her mother smiled when she caught sight of her heading her way. She opened her arms wide as Maura approached saying, "Maura, darling."

"Hello mother," Maura said as she leaned in to place a kiss on both of her mother's cheeks. "You look wonderful, and the piece is amazing. I hope you don't mind, but I just had to bring Jane on over and show it to her first thing when we arrived."

"Of course I don't mind," her mother replied blushing just a little bit. I was wonderful for her to know that even though she hadn't been the best parent her daughter was still proud of her. "Where is that lovely woman of yours?"

Maura stood there looking at her mother as she turned a brilliant shade of red.

"Oh, come now, Maura. No, need to be shy about it. I wish you had told me before now, but you know it doesn't matter to me who you love. As long as they make you happy, that's what's important."

"Um, Jane and I are simply friends, mother." It was all she could think to say. Her mother looked at her curiously. She nodded to emphasize what she had said out loud.

"You want more though?"

Maura looked around nervously to make sure no one was listening in on their conversation. "Yes. Well, I did at one time. Recently though, I've kind of met someone and I think I might like to see where it goes."

"So, tell me about her then."

"That's just it. I don't know all that much. You see I've been reading these fiction stories online and a little over a week ago I left a review on one of the chapters. She responded back and we've chatted a little more online since then, but really the only thing I do know about her is that she goes by Junior on the site and lives here in Boston."

"She goes by Junior?" her mother questioned. "You're sure this is a woman you're speaking to?"

"Well, her full name on the site is Junior Red Sox fan girl. Though I suppose you are right, there's really no way of knowing until you meet someone face to face who it is you're speaking to."

"What about Jane?"

"I love her. I have for a long time now, and part of me always will, but I haven't seen anything out of Jane that would give any indication that she felt the same."

"I've seen the way she looks at you Maura. I think if you were to tell her how you felt that she would return your feelings, but you are a grown woman. If you want to see where it leads with this person online then that is your choice. Like I said I just want you to be happy."

Constance could see unshed tears shining in her daughters eyes. She took a hold her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, trying to convey that everything would work out. She looked up to see the detective heading their way. "Ah, Jane," she said to indicate Maura of the woman's approach. "It's wonderful to see you again."

Maura quickly pulled herself together so Jane wouldn't catch on to anything they had been talking about. Jane handed her another champagne flute, which she gratefully accepted.

"It's a pleasure to see you again as well," Jane replied to Constance. She held out the other flute of champagne offering it to Constance.

"Oh, thank you Jane, but I can't with the medication I'm still on after the accident."

Maura gasped a little. "You're still on the medication."

"Yes, but nothing to worry about Maura dear. The doctors expect that I can come off of it when I get back from this trip."

R&amp;I

The trip home from the opening was even quieter than the ride there had been. This time they didn't even have music for background noise. Now it was almost as though Maura were even more distant than she had seemed earlier in the evening. She wondered if Maura was worrying about the fact that her mother was still on some of the medication this long after the accident or if something else had happened that she had missed.

"Did you have a good time tonight?" Jane asked her quietly, trying to get some kind of conversation going.

"Yes. Thank you for coming with me."

"It was my pleasure. Hey, it was a lot better than the last one we attended together." She laughed just a little hoping Maura would do the same to lighten the mood that seemed to have settled over them. "Besides, you know I love listening to you talking about artwork. I wouldn't have missed that."

Maura just smiled at her graciously, but remained silent.

It looked like there wasn't going to be a way that she could work Maura out of whatever this was tonight. So, she decided to drop it for the time being and concentrate on getting them home. It was getting late and she hoped that they wouldn't get called in tomorrow: at least before they had a chance to get some sleep. She would try to work out what was going on with Maura later. They'd eventually get around to talking about it, when the time was right.

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**So? Please, please please review! We want to know what you all thought of this chapter. It makes my day to look at all of the reviews to see what you as readers think. (And I could really stand to have my day made with the week I've had.) See you soon!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Still don't own R&amp;I, but oh if we did...**

**AN: Hey everyone! What's going on? I know, we're back with another chapter already! It has been a crazy busy week, not quite as crazy as last week was for me. Hope y'all are doing well. Thank you all so much for the favorites, follows, reviews, and reads. Thank you so much for it last chapter especially because that one wasn't easy for us in terms of writing, but we made it through and it was wonderful to know y'all liked it. This story wouldn't be here if it weren't for SoNFan1978. She is the only reason that it is where it is now and where it's going in the future and I can't thank her enough for allowing me the honor of a co-write with her. Anyway, enjoy!**

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It was Sunday once again and Jane logged into her fiction account. It had been a busy week. After talking so long with me she hadn't had time that day to post her next chapter. It was Monday evening before she had the chance to get it posted. Then everything started to break loose on the cases they had caught the week before and she'd only had time to log in twice since Monday. Once when she saw that me had left a review, and the second time to reply quickly back to a follow up message. Then she had the gallery opening with Maura on Friday and yesterday she spent the day catching up on housework and paperwork she had brought home with her.

She quickly checked in on her last chapter to see the stats and reviews. She wanted to get those taken care of and then see if me was online this morning again. She really hoped that she would be there. She had wanted to say more when she had first sent a message to her about the review, but she just didn't have the time at the moment she was able to check in on her account. Now though, she had some free time before family dinner and she could explain it all.

Everyone had seemed to love the chapter, but no one else had left reviews anywhere near what me had for her on the chapter. She clicked over into her inbox and to the message thread the way she had done before and gotten the notice to live chat. It was empty this time; no little line asking if she wanted to live chat with the user.

Some part of Jane knew that it would be a long shot, but she just couldn't help hoping she'd be there this morning. There was something about me. They were just so comfortable chatting to each other like that. Usually she didn't like giving out much information about herself. Most people that knew her just considered her the woman who had been the obsession of Charles Hoyt. But with it being online the other person didn't know her name. They could get a chance to know the real her before they found out about everything else; about how she was considered a hero.

She gave up thinking that me would eventually show up as online and they'd be able to talk. She started to type up everything she wanted to say in a message to leave for her to find later. Typing out her message was like she was sitting and writing a letter. It had been a long time since she'd written anything like a letter; she kind of liked it.

As Jane was typing away on the message she started to think of Maura. She thought of how it could be fun to actually write letters to Maura and leave them for her in little places that were special to them. How Maura would find them and read them. She wanted Maura to be the person she wrote letter to and left in places to find. Suddenly she realized what she had to do; she had to tell Maura how she felt about her. She wouldn't do it today before or tonight during family dinner. No, she would talk to Maura tomorrow and ask her to come to the apartment tomorrow for dinner and she would tell her then.

Jane placed the finishing touches on her message to me and hit send. She logged out of her account. She needed to think about what to say to Maura tomorrow night, but she also wanted to get started on her next chapter of the story. So, she set about multitasking. She could work on things that Jamie and Maria would say to each other to apologize for how they had been acting and in turn it could help her figure out what to say to Maura: especially when she thought back to her first story and now they fell in love and what they said to each other. Things she had them say to each other back then had been things she wanted to say to Maura, so why not start there when thinking about what she wanted to tell Maura now?

R&amp;I

"Thanks Ma, I'll see you later," Jane said as she grabbed the coffee and tea off the counter that her mother had just made for her.

It was two in the afternoon. They had been called just after seven that morning for a body and it wasn't a good one. It had been exposed for a couple of days, so the autopsy had taken longer than it would normally take Maura. She had to distinguish which wounds were most likely injuries caused in an altercation and which could have been done by animals in the time the body was exposed.

Now though she should be done with everything and Jane thought that she might be ready for a drink; a drink that she could have while on duty anyway. Finally and elevator arrived that was headed down and she stepped in it.

She was excited to be headed back down to the morgue. This was it; she was going to ask Maura to come over for dinner tonight. She had actually planned to cook too. She wasn't just going to pick up take out, order something in, or microwave anything. She was going to fix a real meal for Maura and then tell her while they were eating.

She had a good feeling about it too. Something seemed to tell her that this was going to go the way she had hoped: that Maura felt the same way about her. She stepped off of the elevator with a huge smile on her face and a bounce in her step. She was so ready for this.

She moved along the hallway to Maura's office and stopped in the doorway. She would have knocked, but she had a drink it each hand. She took in the site of her friend and the woman she loved.

Maura sat behind her desk. She was tying away furiously at her keyboard on her computer. At first she thought Maura might be working on some of the reports for the autopsy, except for one thing. There was a huge smile on Maura's face and in that instant the one on hers faltered. Maura would never work on autopsy reports with a smile like that lighting up her face. She was always reserved and composed while working. This was something else.

Then Jane flashed back to what her mother had said again about Maura trying online dating. Maura had even said that she had been talking to a couple of people online. It must have gone from just talking to something more because there were only a couple of things that put a smile like that on Maura's face and she had a pretty good idea of what it must be this time.

She turned and left before Maura could spot her. There was no way that she could see her right now. Anger had started to seep into her now. She couldn't believe she had been foolish enough to think that Maura would want her.

R&amp;I

Jane slowly opened the door to her apartment. The anger she had had as she left Maura's office had given way to sadness later on. She had driven around for a while; not sure where to go or what to do, but she hadn't wanted to come back to the apartment.

Now though, she had to face it. She stepped inside and flipped on the light as she closed the door behind herself. She looked over at the breakfast nook where she had set up the table. She had been so excited that morning she had already started prepping everything. She had laid out a table cloth, she hadn't even realized she own one until she looked in the linen closet. She even had linen napkins she had set out with the plates and silverware she had all prepped and ready to go. The worst part to see was the two candlesticks sitting in the center of the table; just waiting to be lit go make the setting more intimate.

She considered walking over and just sweeping everything off of the table onto the floor, but she couldn't find it in her to do that. So she headed over and started to pick up the plates and silverware and return it to the cupboard. Once that was done she felt a little better. She could get the rest of it later. She walked over the fridge and grabbed herself a beer. She popped the cap on it and walked to her bedroom. She didn't want to be anywhere near that right now it would just cause her more pain at the moment.

One thing she did know for sure though. Maura had found someone that she liked online. Well, she didn't have to be the only one. She herself had been talking to people online too. Maybe it was about time she started to get to know some of them better.

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**You know what I'm gonna say. Click in that little box right down there and tell us what you think! We'll see you soon. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Still don't own it. Believe me, wish we did cause, SoNfan1978 and I would be living on the beach somewhere. Or at least I would, she could live there too if she wanted. **

**AN: Hey Y'all! Wow! That's about all I can say for the feedback from the last chapter. I am so glad that y'all did, and in a few cases didn't, love it. Thank you so much to all of you who read, followed, favorited and reviewed. It means so much to us that you care that much about this story and want to continue to read it. I have addressed a few of the issues some of you have mentioned about Maura's screen name and how it reads in a sentence. Hopefully from now on it will be clearer and I tried to get all of the times it appeared in there, but I may have missed a couple. Sorry, did my best. I am only human after all. Anyway, now back to that story. Enjoy!**

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The week had both rushed and crawled by after Jane had found Maura talking to her online love on Monday. They had made great headway on the case they had open and they had caught another one on Wednesday. The new one involved a college student who was pretty popular around campus. That literally meant they had about 100 people to interview. They had pulled in some of the patrol officers to question those they were sure didn't have anything to do with the death, but needed statements so their evidence and findings could hold up in court later.

Everything seemed to crawl by in her personal life. With the new case Jane hadn't been down to see Maura in the morgue much. Though she wanted to be down there, at the same time she didn't want to either. She was finding it hard to deal with the fact that she wasn't going to be able to tell her how she felt. She hadn't felt any motivation to work on her story or log into her fiction account.

Now though, it was Friday. It was time to unwind. She had been invited to go to The Robber with the guys and Maura, but she had declined; claimed she was tired after the week they'd had. The week hadn't even come close to some of the strenuous weeks they'd had before, but she just didn't feel like being around everyone. She wanted to take refuge in her apartment, in her story, and see if she could make sense of things.

Jane sat down in front of her laptop with a beer in her hand. She opened up the story on her hard drive. She read over the last bit that she had written, but she wasn't finding anything to give her inspiration at the moment to continue. It was funny how in her story of Jamie and Maria they had just gotten back to the point of talking to each other when she and Maura had fallen into a point of not talking to each other. Wasn't art supposed to imitate life, or life imitate art, or something along those lines? Whatever it was they definitely weren't imitating each other right now.

She gave up trying to write for now, but left the story open in case sudden inspiration were to strike. Jane decided to check in on her fiction account. She hadn't even bothered to read the emails she had received from the site about the story. She knew there had been a couple of new reviews left and she knew she should look at them and reply back.

Jane opened her web browser and clicked on the bookmark she had to take her directly to the site. She clicked on her account and opened it. She was just getting ready to head over and look at the new reviews she saw she had a message in the inbox. She clicked on her inbox to look at it and smiled when she saw she had a message from _me_. It had been left a few days ago.

Instantly a smile took over her face. She was in awe that one of her readers would want to continue to converse with her. She started to read the message when she saw the flashing message at the bottom that asked if she wanted to chat with me M.D. She quickly read the rest of the message and clicked on the chat link before the opportunity to chat disappeared.

Within a minute the full chat screen popped up between her and me. Me spoke first.

_me: Hello again. _

_jr: Hey stranger. I just got your message from earlier in the week. _

_me: Busy week?_

_jr: It wasn't as bad as some I've had, it just seemed long. But getting that message made it a lot better. :)_

_me: Then I am glad that I had a part in that._

Both women sat at their keyboards for a moment not knowing what to say next: soon though Jane had another message.

_me: Can I ask you something?_

_jr: Of course:_

_me: I understand that this may seem a little out there, but you are woman aren't you?_

Jane sat at her computer, trying to stifle a laugh and also pondering the question me had just asked.

_jr: Lol. Well, I'm not catfishing you if that's what you are concerned about. _

_me: What does a ray-finned fish have to do with our conversation?_

Jane couldn't help but laugh out loud at that one. She wasn't sure if this woman was joking or if she'd found someone else out there like Maura. Jane felt a little pang in her chest at the thought of Maura. But then something else occurred to her. How did she know that _me _was a woman she had been talking to?

_jr: Okay, first off I was talking about the urban dictionary definition of that term where someone uses social media accounts to pretend they are someone they aren't. Second, do I get a chance to ask a couple of questions now that I've answered yours?_

_me: Of course. Ask whatever you'd like to know. _

_jr: The M.D. at the end of your name, are you a doctor?_

_me: Yes I am a doctor._

_jr: Do you get called doc?_

_me: Haha. Yes, as a matter of fact, I do get called that from time to time. _

_jr: Okay, since you asked me now I have to ask you. How do I know you're not just catfishing me?_

_me: First off, I am definitely not catfishing you since I didn't even know what that was until five minutes ago._

_jr: Yeah, but how do I know that? You could just be saying that to mess with me._

_me: Second thing, I don't like 'messing' with people. I prefer the truth and I always hope that others are being truthful with me. Though sometimes I know there's no way to prove if they are or not. _

_jr: So then, do we both want proof that we aren't catfishing each other?_

_me: Yes, I'd prefer to have some sort of evidence to show that we are in fact telling each other the truth. _

_jr: Alright then. Let's meet. You said you were near the city, how far are you or when is the next time you'll be here?_

_me: You want to meet me? _

_jr: Well, it seems like the best way to prove to each other we are who we have been telling each other we are, so why not?_

_me: Pick a day and time that works for you and we'll see if that works for me and we can meet. _

_jr: Sunday morning? 9:00a.m.? There's this coffee shop, Boston Joe's, we could meet there. _

_me: And how are we supposed to be able to tell who the other one is at a place like that?_

_jr: I guess we should decide on what to wear then so we'll know. _

Maura thought it over for a moment. Asking her to go ahead and pick out an outfit now for what Sunday morning would be like was like Jane always begging her to take a guess at a cause of death at their crime scenes. Suddenly though, an idea occurred to her.

_me: What if we both wore Red Sox jerseys? That should make us easily distinguishable to the other. _

Jane could tell that she liked this woman already if she was going to let her get away with meeting up for the first time in Red Sox jerseys.

_jr: That sounds like a great idea._

_me: It sounds like we are all set. I will see you Sunday morning?_

_jr: I will be there. See you then. _

_me: It's getting late. I guess I should get some sleep. I've got some paperwork I need to finish tomorrow. Good night jr._

_jr: Yeah I guess it is getting late. I hadn't really noticed; just enjoying the conversation I guess. Good night Doc. ;-)_

With that _me_ was gone and Jane was ecstatic. She couldn't believe that she was actually going to get to meet this woman. When she first started to publish her writing she never thought that she would want to meet anyone who read her stories. That it would be weird to have someone in her life who knew about what she wrote since no one knew her true feelings, but time, and one reader had changed all of that.

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**So? Come on people, you know we love hearing what you think! Please click in that little box down there and leave us a review! Please? (Pretty please? Cause neither SoNfan or I have felt that swell this week and I think your reviews would be just the thing to cheer us up.)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Still don't own it.**

**AN: Oh my goodness y'all! Thank you so much for all of the responses and feedback on the last chapter! It has been absolutely amazing. With every chapter I am so grateful not only for you, the readers, but also for my writing partner SoNfan1978. Many of you have mentioned that the story within a story is a unique idea and that all comes back to SoNfan1978. She trusted me enough to one day say, "Hey I have this crazy idea for a story do you think it would work and could you help me?" If it weren't for that you all wouldn't be reading any of this. Thank you Bee for trusting me to help you with this. I've enjoyed every minute of the journey along the way. Anyway, I think this is the moment in the story y'all have been waiting for, so I'll let you get back to it. Enjoy!**

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Jane walked into her bedroom towel drying her hair. She couldn't believe that in about an hour she would meet _me_. She felt almost as though she had entirely dreamed this up; that there wasn't any way that she could really be meeting someone who read her stories.

It felt strange to meet someone who even knew about her stories. Really she had written them more for herself than for people to read. It had been her way to work through things she had felt for Maura and to give herself hope that maybe one day they could be together. But deciding to meet _me_ had shown her that even if she couldn't have Maura she had the possibility of having someone out there; the possibility of other fish in the sea. It hurt to think that she could love someone out there besides Maura, but she had mildly started to accept that it was something she would one day have to face.

She threw the towel down on her bed and walked over to her closet. She grabbed her jersey and the jeans she planned to wear to Boston Joe's. She put on the clothes, she looked like she was headed out to a ballgame with her brothers, minus the ball cap she would normally wear to a game, but _me_ had decided they should wear the jerseys so they could find each other.

Jane headed for the kitchen and poured herself some cereal. Maybe they should have just met a diner so they could have breakfast together. But would have that been too much for a first meeting? It seemed like that might have been too much. Coffee was supposed to be more casual wasn't it? Yes, surely deciding on a coffee place had been the way to go when she picked the place for their meeting.

Jane had been on autopilot, moving through her usual daily routine, when she looked down and realized that she had made herself a cup of instant coffee as she thought about whether or not she had picked the right place for the meeting. She chuckled at herself a little. So she would have some of this she had made and just get another cup when she got there, no big deal. She had had days where she lived entirely on coffee when working on a case. Having a couple of cups this morning wouldn't make any difference.

As soon as she finished her cereal and rinsed the bowl Jane grabbed Jo's leash. She didn't know how long she would be with _me_ this morning so it was a good idea to take her out just in case she didn't get the chance to take her out for a walk before she had to go to dinner this evening.

R&amp;I

Boston Joe's was a place that she had been to many times. However, Maura had never realized it would be this busy on a Sunday morning. She was having trouble finding a table. The only one she could manage to find was rather obscured behind a wall. She had been hoping to get one where she could be out in the open and able to watch the door for a woman to come in wearing a Red Sox jersey.

Maura had come a little bit early and maybe that would work in her favor. She hoped that maybe she could grab a better table before _jr _got there if some other patrons left. She looked around her at the people. She wasn't an expert at reading body language, but it looked like most people were going to be occupying their tables for a while longer.

So, she decided to just stay where she was, take a sip of her tea and try to relax. Though it was rather hard to do when she kept thinking about how she was meeting someone she'd met over the internet that she knew hardly anything about. She unconsciously ran her hand down her pant leg, smoothing out non-existent wrinkles.

Maura looked down at her watch, _jr_ should be here soon. For now though, all she could do was wait. She took another sip of her tea and started wonder if _jr_ would look anything like either Jamie or Maria from her stories.

R&amp;I

Jane strolled up the street to the coffee shop. She was running a little bit later than she had intended. Jo had wanted to take a leisurely walk this morning rather than go right out and do her business and come back. So, that had slowed everything down, at the wrong moment.

She grabbed the door handle and swung it open to enter. She stepped inside and moved to the side of the door out of the way so she could look around. She didn't see anyone in a jersey as she first looked around. She took a few more steps inside and towards the counter at the back.

On her second glance around she saw a woman to her left seated at a table in a Red Sox jersey. The woman looked stunning, well from the angle she had on the woman she looked stunning. Her back was mostly to Jane, all she could really see was the woman's profile. She had this auburn hair that had just a tinge of gold in it and her skin was just lightly tanned. The woman looked as though she would be a few inches shorter than Jane, but that wasn't something that would bother her. In fact, she kind of liked it.

Jane smiled. She couldn't believe that she was about to do this. She slowly started to make her way over to the table. She had been nervous the whole way here, but at this moment the nerves were gone. They had been replaced by a light feeling; like this was exactly the right thing and right place that she needed to be at this moment.

"Hello," Jane said as she stood next to the table.

"Hi," the woman said as she looked up at her from her seat.

"Are you waiting for someone?"

"Actually yes I am," the woman replied smiling at her.

"Are you waiting for someone who's also supposed to be in a Red Sox jersey?" She had no idea why she was asking like this. Why didn't she just walk up and ask the woman if she was _me_. Or walk up and introduce herself as _jr_.

"Yes, but I don't I'm who you are looking for unfortunately," the woman replied.

Jane gave her a quizzical look. How many women here had Red Sox jerseys on and were waiting for someone? This woman in front of her was the only one she had seen so far.

"I'm waiting on my husband," the woman answered without Jane asking her the question that had been on her mind.

Jane looked down and noticed the wedding band on the woman's finger for the first time. That cleared up some things. If _me_ had been married she probably would have mentioned that in the short conversations she'd had already.

R&amp;I

"Oh, well who would have thought there would be more than one woman waiting for someone in a coffee shop in a Red Sox jersey," Maura heard someone say.

There was more than one woman in the coffee shop in a Red Sox jersey? She looked up for the first time in several minutes. She had lost herself thinking about what _jr_ would look like and where this friendship would go.

"Well, this is Boston." Maura heard from another female voice.

"Right," the first voice replied. There was something slightly familiar about it. "Sorry to have bothered you."

"That's alright. I hope you find who you're looking for."

"Thanks."

Maura stood from her table. There was something so familiar about that voice.

"Have a nice day."

Then it clicked. Maura leaned around the wall that her table was obscured by. "Jane," she breathed out lightly. Everything started to fall into place.

Jane turned around at the mention of her name. "Maura," she replied back. "What are you…" she trailed off as she caught sight of what Maura was wearing.

The pieces fell into place for both of them. Suddenly it all made so much sense. Why she had laughed when _me_ mentioned the ray-finned fish and she thought how much like Maura that sounded.

Why Maura seemed to feel this strange connection to this author and her stories. Why she loved Jamie and Maria's story so much. Yes, now it all made perfect sense.

"Jane," Maura said again.

"How…" Jane was all she could say. Maura started to move towards her now. She held up her hand to get her to stop. The woman she had been talking to, the one who had been reading her stories, was the woman she had originally written them about to begin with. That woman was the woman she had loved more than anyone else in the world. That woman was Maura Isles.

A laugh bubbled its way up out of her throat. Here she had been worrying about telling Maura she had been in love with her for years and for a while now Maura had been reading stories about a love, and a life, she had written that they might have had together. It was a little too hard to believe.

She didn't know what she was doing here. Why had she thought meeting one of readers was a good idea? At this moment she couldn't remember, she couldn't really remember anything. All she knew was that Maura was standing here in front of her and she couldn't take it. This was all just a little too real.

She turned. "Jane, no…" she heard Maura cry out behind her. But it was too late. She just couldn't do this right now.

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**And cue the dramatic music maybe? So, what do y'all think? Will Jane change her mind and come back? You know we want to hear what you think and what you have to say, so let us hear it!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: If only, if only we owned anything of R&amp;I, but we don't.**

**AN: Wow! Y'all are awesome. The reviews for the last chapter were great; I loved getting to see your reactions for how the chapter ended and your predictions of what would happen. SoNFan1978 and I would like to thank all of you for your continued support of this story in reading and reviewing. We had no idea what your reaction would be when this story was still mostly just an idea. It's been an awesome journey so far, at least for me, and I am so honored that SoNFan1978 asked me to help and is letting me be a part of this. **

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"What did you do?" Jane heard her mother screech across the café. Busted. Jane looked up. She had hoped that she had caught a break and her Ma would be in the back long enough that she could grab a cup of coffee and get out. She should have known better.

"What?" Jane asked.

"Don't you start that with me. What did you do?" her mother asked her again.

"Ma, what are you talking about?" Jane asked as she turned from the carafe where she had been pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"Jane Clementine Rizzoli, I told you not to start that with me!" her mother said raising her voice and drawing attention of some of the other cops in the café.

"Ma!" She hissed in a hushed voice because of the attention they were now drawing. Jane dragged her mother off to the side of the café where they would have a little more privacy. "What exactly are you talking about Ma?" she asked when they were out of the prying eyes of everyone at BPD. She knew that fairly quickly word would get around about her mother's little outburst in the café and she would have questions to start answering.

"You know very well what I'm talking about," her mother hissed at her. "Neither you nor Maura showed up to dinner last night and we had it at Maura's house. Neither of you would answer my phone calls either, so there must be something going on. So, start talking."

"Ugh, Ma" Jane practically whined. "There's nothing, OW!" she screeched as her mother grabbed a hold of her ear and pulled a little. "Okay, okay. Just let go."

"I mean it Jane. Start talking. The last time you two acted like this…"

"Ma, it's nothing like that," Jane said interrupting her mother. Geez, everyone would always take things back to when they had fought over her shooting Doyle at that warehouse. "Okay, something did happen, but I don't really want to talk about it."

"Jane, I don't want to see her hurt like she did last time. Maura's one of my kids now too and I don't want my kids to be mad at each other. I just want all of you to be happy."

"I know Ma," Jane said quietly. "I want us to be happy too. We'll work it out, I promise. It's just going to take some time. I need to figure out what to say to her."

"Okay then," her mother replied back. "I don't want to have to go hiding books in lunches that I pack for the two of you again."

Jane couldn't help but chuckle at her mother's words. "Don't worry Ma, you won't. I'll see you later? I need to get up to the bullpen and see what's been going on with our cases."

"Hey, you know where to find me," her mother replied as she made her way back behind the counter. Angela hadn't gotten the answers she'd been hoping for, but she knew that she could trust her daughter to do what she'd said she would.

R&amp;I

Maura sat at her desk filling out the reports for an autopsy she had performed earlier in the morning. She hadn't found anything suspicious with the death, but the toxicology screening had yet to come back so that would tell her more about things once it came in. A tap at the door startled her. Her heart leapt in her chest a little at the knock. Something within her hoped that it would be Jane standing there when she looked up.

She tore her eyes from the screen and her mood deflated a little bit more. It was Susie standing there. "Morning Dr. Isles," came Susie's quiet voice as she stepped farther into the office.

"Morning Susie," Maura replied almost tiredly. Once she did make it home last night she hadn't exactly slept well.

"I have the reports back on some of those fibers you wanted me to run for Detective Rizzoli's case. Apparently they match carpet fibers from a car. I have the information for you here."

"Thank you Susie. Why don't you go ahead and leave my copy here and you can take the other one up to the bullpen."

"But usually you like to take them, Doctor Isles."

"Not this time Susie. I have some things here that I need to keep working on."

"Okay. I'd be happy to take them up for you."

"Thank you."

Susie smiled left Maura's copy on the corner of her desk and retreated to take the other copy upstairs to the detectives.

Maura sat behind her desk. She tried to return to the reports she had been working on, but she had lost the concentration on it. More than anything she wanted to go upstairs and see Jane. She just couldn't make herself do it though.

She had been shocked yesterday when she leaned around that wall and found that Jane was looking for a woman in a Red Sox jersey. But at the same time her heart had started to race because she was thrilled. Now Jane could know how she had felt for her for so long.

She thought Jane would be just as thrilled. In hindsight, it was easy to see how Jane had come up with the characters of Jamie and Maria. Everything about the story fell into place. Jane loved her too, but instead of staying and talking about it she had left. Jane had left, even after she had asked her to stay.

All she wanted to do was ask Jane what it meant for them, but she couldn't. Right now she just couldn't go and face Jane. Plus she felt more like Jane should come and face her since she had been the one to leave. She didn't have the slightest idea of what she should do right now, so she turned back to her computer and the reports she needed to get done.

R&amp;I

"Detective Rizzoli."

Jane turned at the sound of her name. She, Frost, and Korsak were standing in front of their suspect board at a loss of where to go next. "Hi Susie," she greeted the criminalist. "What's up?"

"Doctor Isles asked me to bring this up to you. It's the report on the fibers found on the victim. They're carpet fibers from a car."

"Thanks," Jane replied as she took the folder from Susie and flipped it open to read over the report. "Usually she brings these up herself," Jane tried to comment like there was nothing usual going on between herself and Maura.

"She had some reports she was working on that had to be completed, so she sent me."

"Ah, well thanks again Susie. This should help us get somewhere." With that Susie turned and left them and Jane turned to Frost. "Frost, can you cross reference the make and models these fibers come from with the cars of our suspects and see if anything matches up. She was in somebody's car shortly before she died."

"No problem Jane, I'll get right on it."

All they could do now was wait and see if the computer found a match for them. Jane was slightly disappointed because this left her thinking more about Maura. She hated that about 24 hours ago she had driven a wedge between them. Why had seen been so stupid and run the way she did? She could have stayed, they could have gone somewhere else to talk things over, and right now things would be completely different. But her stupid flight response from things related to intimacy had taken over again and she flew like she always does at first.

She needed to come up with a way for them to be able to talk to each other. If only it was as simple as thinking about it and making it happen like it was when she needed to get Jamie and Maria talking. She would need something good. And she would need the right words to say. She needed to think about what she really wanted to tell Maura. She knew she needed to apologize and to tell Maura that she had been in love with her for years now.

"Jane," she heard and her head whipped up; pulling her from her thoughts. Frost was looking at her with a big grin on his face.

"I found it," he continued once he knew he had her attention. "One of those guys in her study group has a car the same make and model as the ones listed in the report that Susie gave us."

"Okay, but what would be his motive? When interviewed he didn't seem like he had any reason to commit murder," Korsak asked from his desk. He had handled the interviews with the study group members himself.

"Rejection. Maybe he asked her out and she said no," Jane replied. "Or maybe he was jealous. She was a straight A student. Maybe he found this class harder than she did; didn't think that she needed to be a part of the study group."

Frost and Korsak both sat at their desks reflecting on what Jane had mentioned. After a couple of seconds Korsak said, "Well it sounds like it's a good enough reason to go pay him a visit and ask him a few follow up questions. You know we are going to need a little bit more than that to get anything on him to stick. He might give us something though if we go see him. Let's go."

R&amp;I

"This is it," Jane replied from the passenger seat of the cruiser. They had pulled up to the address they had on Joey Andersen. Frost had done a little more digging on him. It turned out Joey was a 28 year old undergrad at BCU. He had a couple of priors when he was a teen as in his early twenties. He seemed to have turned his life around, maybe. Right now they needed to ask him a few more questions about their victim and member of his study group Elizabeth Jordan.

They approached the house as always and Korsak knocked on the door. After the first knock they didn't hear anything after Korsak knocked the second time it sounded like there was a crash near the back of the house.

Jane decided to walk around and checkout the back of the house. She drew her weapon for her safety. Just as she reached the back corner of the house she saw the back door fly open and their suspect headed off across the back yard towards the fence. "Guys we got a runner!" she hollered as she took off after him.

He jumped the fence and she followed as swiftly as she could. She made it over the fence to the alley way behind it stopped to look around. There was a corner about 50 feet down. It had to be the way he had gone. She slowly started to make her way around the corner. She didn't know this area to well to know if he would be trapped down there and willing to fight his way out or if it would lead out to another street. About halfway to the corner Jane heard the sound of an engine roar to life.

Her first thought was that their suspect was going to get away for sure. She started to run towards the corner. Before she even had time to process what was happening a car barreled around the corner headed straight for her in the narrow alley. She had less than a second to react.

R&amp;I

Maura had stayed in her office as long as she could. She couldn't take it any longer she had to at least go see if Jane would agree to a meeting sometime soon. She left her office and headed for the elevator. On the ride up she tried to play out some ways in her head of starting the conversation. She didn't want to seem too overly eager or too hurt by what had happened yesterday.

She stepped off of the elevator and made the few short steps down the hallway to where she could enter the bullpen. She immediately noticed that all of Korsak's team was missing. Things seemed to be fairly quiet, though there was a scanner turned on in the room somewhere. It was sending out bits of information from some of the different scenes that were going on around Boston at the moment. "Did you need something Dr. Isles?" one of the other detectives asked from one of the other desks.

"I had just come up to see how Korsak's team was doing with the info sent up earlier."

"Oh, I think they had a lead on it and went to check some things out at a house. They left a little while ago I'm sure they'll be back soon if there was anything else you needed."

Maura could feel the disappointment starting to settle in. She hated it that she had missed catching Jane right now. Truth was they probably wouldn't be back before the end of the day if they really had something with a possible suspect. "No, that's alright. I can check in with them later. Thank you," she said as she started to turn away.

"Officer down!" she heard crackle through the scanner. "I repeat officer down!" Maura felt a cold chill run up her spine. The voice sounded like… "Victor 825 down at a scene, we need a bus here." She felt the breath leave her body in a rush at the words. It felt like someone had punched her in the chest. Jane…

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**Oh, no! Is it going to be too late for the girls? Come on, you know you want to click in the review box and tell us! So, let us hear it!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: We don't own Rizzoli and Isles. Believe me I wish we did, cause that beach is looking real tempting right about now, but we still don't.**

**AN: Hey y'all! Um what can I say but WOW to all of the love for the last chapter and this story in general. It has meant so much to myself and SoNFan1978. We are so happy that you are enjoying this story because we have enjoyed being able to write it for you. For myself, y'all know that I try to respond to every review left by anyone who doesn't leave one as a guest. I think I did that with this last chapter, but I can't remember. I am sorry if I didn't respond to a review. It's been a week and I'm pretty sure I left my brain somewhere, but I have no idea where at this point. So yeah. Ya'll are getting this update a few hours early. Lately I've been posting in the mornings, but I just can't do it tomorrow and I didn't want to make y'all wait til Friday for it. Anyway, Enjoy!**

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She flew down the stairs as fast as her heels and pencil skirt would allow. The address had come across on the scanner and all she knew was that she had to get there. She couldn't wait another second, she had to go and see for herself what had happened to Jane.

Maura burst through the door of the staircase entrance to the lobby and started to make her way through the lobby. Just as she started to head down the steps outside of BPD she heard her name called. She paused to look back. It was Angela. She had the same scared look on her face and Maura realized that Angela must have heard the call too.

Angela caught up to her on the steps and it was as if they were communicating silently. They both started to head down them together. They were both going to the scene. Moments later they climbed into the car and were off with Maura being the one to break traffic laws for a change. They were at the scene in less than ten minutes. Luckily it wasn't rush hour so the streets to get to the address weren't as crowded as they could have been.

Maura pulled the car to an almost screeching halt near the scene, which was already cordoned off by cruisers and other police vehicles. She wrenched the keys from the ignition and was hot on Angela's heels as they started to make their way over to an officer who was guarding the scene.

"I'm sorry ladies, but no one past this point," the officer said blocking them from entering the scene.

"That's my daughter in there," Angela came back at him.

"Sorry ma'am, but no one is allowed beyond this point without authorization."

"Maura pulled her badge from her pocket and held it up. "I'm the medical examiner; I need to get in there."

"We didn't call for the medical examiner's office."

Just as Maura and Angela both were about to get pushy with the officer Maura spotted Vince as he stepped from behind a vehicle that was down the alley. "Detective Korsak!" she shouted, trying to get his attention.

Korsak's head snapped up at his name. He saw both Maura and Angela standing at the barrier of the scene. He waived at the officer to let them in and they both rushed for him. He held up his hand's to stop the barrage of questions he knew was about to come his way.

"She'll be okay. Our suspect tried to flee the scene and she gave chase. He made it into the alley down here and around a small corner where he apparently had his car stashed. He came around the corner as Jane was about to get to the corner. She was able to mostly get out of his way in time, but he did clip her some with the car. She's got a dislocated shoulder and as of right now she's refusing medical treatment."

"Where is she?" Angela asked, slightly panicked.

"She's in the bus over there. The EMT's had her on a gurney and almost ready to go when she started refusing treatment. So, it's probably a good thing you showed up. She really needs to have it checked out, but nothing doing. I don't know why she's being so stubborn."

Angela hadn't waited around to hear all of what Vince had to say. She was already on her way to the ambulance. Maura wanted nothing more than to be right there with her, but she didn't know if she should. She kind of had an idea of why Jane might be refusing the medical treatment, but she couldn't be sure.

"I think you should go over and see her Doc. You've always been able to convince her when no one else can get close."

Maura just nodded at him and slowly started to make her way over to the waiting ambulance. She knew Vince had said Jane only had a dislocated shoulder, but she still didn't know what kind of shape she would find Jane in.

"Ma!" Maura heard come from the back of the bus as she got nearer. "Stop it! I told you I'm not going to the hospital!"

"Jane Clementine Rizzoli, you are going to go and have this looked at and that's final."

"No, Ma! No more of this. You shouldn't even be down here in the first place. For another matter, I am a grown woman and I don't need you holding my hand. I'm not going and that's final."

Maura stepped around the edge of the ambulance to make her presence known. She didn't really want to overhear any more of the conversation going on between the two women unless they knew she was listening in. She looked up in the ambulance at Jane lying on the gurney and Angela, although seated beside it, was still somehow still hovering over her.

Jane caught movement out of the corner of her eye. At first she thought it might be one of the EMT's again trying to convince her to go to the hospital. But then she saw who it was and she couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face. "Maur," she said. This was who she had been waiting on. It had crossed her mind at some point, though she wasn't sure which, that this could be the thing to get the two of them talking: kind of like what happened with Jamie and Maria when Bosco got hurt.

"Thank goodness you're here. Maybe you can talk some sense into her."

"Ma!" Jane whined. "Can you please just give us a minute? You know I need to talk to Maura."

"Alright, alright," her mother replied getting up from the seat beside the gurney and making her way out of the back of the ambulance. Once she was out Maura climbed her way up into the back of the rig.

Though getting into an ambulance didn't bother her, she always hated it when she had to get in the back of one with Jane. But she would never ask Jane to give up her job the way Angela always nagged her about it. Jane loved what she did, and she was amazing at it. There are a lot of dangerous jobs out there and she was willing to accept that being with Jane meant that she had to deal with that dangerous aspect.

"Hi," Maura said softly as she gave Jane a timid smile.

"Hey," Jane replied almost as timidly.

"Jane, please, we need to get you to a hospital," Maura said as she looked at the ice packs currently wrapped to Jane's shoulder.

"No, no hospital. I want you to just pop it back in for me."

"I can't do that. You need to have this looked at."

"Why can't you. Technically you're a doctor and you fixed my nose that time."

"Jane," Maura said sighing and reaching over to take the hand of Jane's uninjured arm, "It's not that simple. Yes, technically I know the process of reducing a shoulder back into the socket, but a shoulder dislocation isn't always that simple and it's a long way from correcting a defect of the nasal bone like you had. You need to go to the hospital and have an X-ray done just to make sure there isn't any other damage that has occurred. We need to check and see if you have a concussion as well."

"You have an X-ray machine back at the morgue and you know how to read the X-ray. You can do it. I'll get out of here right now and we can go."

"You're honestly telling me that you would climb up on the slab and lay there, where I have performed countless autopsies, and let me X-ray your shoulder."

Jane turned silent and started to pale slightly at the thought of what she had just suggested.

"That's what I thought," Maura continued. "Jane, when Bosco got hurt in the line of duty she wanted to make sure he had the best of the best taking care of him. The best of the best in that instance was Maria. We just… No, I… I just want to make sure that you get the best care. In this instance I am not the best care that's possible. If there's more wrong with your shoulder then a simple closed reduction may not be able to be done on it. At the least it'll just take a couple of hours."

Jane turned her head away like she was dismissing what Maura was saying to her; though she hadn't pulled her hand away. Maura saw that as some progress between them after what had happened the day before. They sat for a few minutes in silence.

"I'm sorry," Jane whispered just as she started to think she wasn't going to get anything out of her and get out of the ambulance.

"Sorry for what?" It was the only thing Maura could think to ask her. Surely they weren't about to have their great discussion in the back of an ambulance.

"That I've been such an ass."

"Jane…"

"No," Jane said cutting off anything she might have been about to say. She turned her back towards Maura finally and she could see unshed tears in her eyes.

"Not just right now, but yesterday too. You know I freak out and run when it comes to intimacy things. I know that's not an excuse, but when I saw you standing there I just sort of lost it. In a way I was so happy that it was you; that you finally knew. But then in the next instant I panicked and my brain didn't know how to deal with it. So, I left. And once again I made a bad decision in how to handle my issues, and I hurt the woman that I love most in the process."

So, maybe they were going to have this discussion in the back of an ambulance when they should get going to the hospital. Jane had stopped speaking and she wasn't sure if she was supposed to say something. What was she supposed to say? Yes, it hurt when Jane had left yesterday, but on some level she could understand it. She had been a little shocked at first too.

Finally she just decided to take control of the situation. "Jane, I think we need to have a talk. However, I think we should postpone it until after you get that shoulder looked at and reduced. Once we get it all taken care of then we'll sit down and have that talk. What do you say?"

Jane gave a timid smile as she said, "We?"

"Yes. I am your emergency medical contact. Or I could just go get your mother and let her take care of all of it if you'd rather."

Jane gasped slightly and smiled. "Maura Isles I do think you just made a joke. Well, sort of anyway. That was kind of a mean thing to threaten me with."

Maura couldn't help but smile too. "Okay, so I'll go give your mother my keys so she can take my car and then I'll let them know you're ready."

Jane gently squeezed the hand that was still holding on to hers as Maura started to get up. "Hey, thank you. You're the most amazing person I've ever met."

"Thank you," Maura said squeezing back just a little as a flush started to make its way up to her cheeks at the compliment. "I'll be right back."

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**So? Come on, you know we would love to hear what you thought about this one and what you think will happen! Pretty please click in the box and tell us what you have to say? Pretty pretty please? :-)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: Still don't own anything R&amp;I related. **

**AN: Hey Y'all! Welcome to another chapter! We are so glad y'all liked the last chapter. This chapter is also going up a little bit early because the fascinating thing about attending what is considered a private college is that you have to make up snow days. So, thanks to the "snow day" on Monday guess where I'm going to be headed once I post this? Anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

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Maura woke to her alarm. She must have drifted off sometime within the last hour or so. It had been a long night. After arriving at the hospital and Jane having X-rays it was determined that she had a subcoracoid dislocation and it the doctor only had to manipulate the joint to get it back into the socket properly.

Jane had been lucky. If she had been caught by the car any more than she was it could have taken surgery to repair. Further testing also revealed that she had a concussion. Though the doctors didn't feel it was fully moderate and more on the mild side she had been getting up every couple of hours and waking Jane up just to check.

Though she had set her alarm each time this was the first time it had actually gone off. She had been up all night thinking. She had thought about everything from the day she met Jane to the point yesterday where Jane had apologized in the ambulance. Somewhere in the last hour she had finally fallen asleep. The only bad thing was that she still didn't quite know what to make of everything that had happened between the two of them.

She pulled herself up out of her chair and made her way to the guest bedroom. They had given Jane pain killers before reducing her shoulder yesterday and sent her home with more. At first Jane had insisted that she didn't need them, but halfway through the night she had gotten Jane to take one after Jane admitted she was in some pain. She had been resting comfortably since then except for when Maura had to go in and check her for the concussion.

Jane was still asleep, half propped up with her arm still in the sling so she didn't jostle her shoulder in her sleep.

"Jane," she whispered touching her arm that wasn't in the sling as she sat down gently on the edge of the bed. "Jane I need you to wake up for me for a minute."

Jane stirred slightly. She had woken up a little easier before she had taken the pain pill. It was a sign that she hadn't been getting good rest because of the pain she had been in before. Maura tried again, "Jane, I need you to wake up for a minute."

This time Jane grunted a little bit and shook her head. Maura couldn't help but smile at that. Jane was not much of a morning person, but couple that with pain meds and it was a wonder that she had been able to get her to wake these few times throughout the night.

"Please Jane," she tried pleading just a little. A couple of moments later Jane's eyes fluttered open and she turned her head towards Maura.

"You are so lucky that I love you," came Jane's gravelly voice. Maura couldn't help but laugh just a little.

"Well, I think you're going to be fine. You don't seem to be exhibiting any other symptoms from your concussion. I'll let you go back to sleep now."

"Alright," Jane husked again. Maura watched as her eyes took in the room around her. Then she spoke again asking, "What time is it anyway?"

"Just after seven a.m. Do you need me to pull the curtains so you can sleep some more?"

Jane shook her head before saying, "Not necessary. I can still feel the pain pill. It'll kick in here in a few more seconds and pull me back under. By then it won't matter if the sun was shining directly on me, I'll be out." Her eyes started to flutter closed once more as she said, "So I'll see you again in a couple of hours?"

"You'll see me soon enough," Maura whispered as she eased herself off the bed to keep from disturbing Jane any further. She exited the guest room and closed the door softly. The day was upon her and today she was going to need caffeine to keep going, so she headed for the kitchen.

R&amp;I

Jane made her way slowly down the stairs from the guest room. She had noticed that it was some time after ten in the morning. Maura was supposed to be checking on her every couple of hours. The last she had remembered her coming in was sometime just after seven.

She wondered what was going on. She spied Maura sitting at the breakfast bar with her laptop open. She seemed to be absorbed in something. She wondered if Maura was reading a new journal article or she was enthralled in a report while trying to work from home.

"Morning," she said as she came near; her voice still raspy from sleep. Maura finally looked up and smiled.

"Good morning, how are you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess, when you consider everything that happened."

"I've got coffee, would you like some?"

Jane smiled, "You know me too well. I'd love some."

Maura got up quickly and headed over to the coffee maker. It wouldn't take long to get a cup made for Jane and another one for herself.

"How come you didn't wake me up?" Jane asked curiously as she made her way over to the stools to take a seat.

"It wasn't necessary," Maura replied without looking away from the task before her. You're pupils reacted as normal when I checked you the last time. I figured after the night that you had you'd appreciate getting some uninterrupted sleep."

"Hey, even interrupted sleep is better than getting no sleep. Which is what I'd have been getting if that asshole hadn't…"

"Jane," Maura reprimanded her.

"Sorry," she apologized for the outburst of language. She decided just to stay silent.

Quickly though her eyes started to drift over to Maura's laptop which was still sitting open on the countertop. Normally she would never invade Maura's privacy like that, but she was curious to see what had held Maura's attention like that as she came in the kitchen moments ago. As she took in the words on the screen it was quickly apparent. She recognized the words almost instantly. She had taken those words and strung them together into the sentences herself. Eventually she had strung the sentences into a story: a story where she could write the ending for a character that was an ending she had always wanted for herself.

Maura turned from finishing off their coffee and saw Jane staring at the computer screen. She slowly walked over to the breakfast bar. She set Jane's coffee down beside her. She then took her seat beside Jane where she had been rereading Jane's first story about Jamie and Maria.

"They are well written stories. I've heard the saying hindsight is 20/20, but I don't suppose I had ever really thought that much about it until you were standing there in Boston Joe's looking for a woman in a Red Sox jersey. Suddenly, it all made sense for me. There had always been something so appealing about the stories and, I guess, at times I had thought about what it would be like if it were you and I living out a story like that."

Jane turned to look at Maura. It was time. They needed to have this talk. "I'm glad you like the stories. I'd always been pretty good with the writing assignments I was given in high school, or so my teachers always said. Some said I was a kid of few words on the outside, but had a whole other world where I was a great speaker living deep inside to pull from and share; that though, I'm still not entirely sure about. But it seems like times when I've needed help the most with dealing with problems and situations that arise I do seem to find these words within that just flow out."

Jane paused for a moment trying to decide how it was she needed to say the things that had been buried deep within her for so long. She stared down at the countertop. She might be able to find the words to say to Maura right now, but there was no way that she could face seeing any more pain or hurt in her eyes for the moment.

"I started writing the stories what feels like a lifetime ago now. At the time I was in need of finding some way that I could express what I was feeling for you. Nothing in all of these years seemed to indicate that you could possibly reciprocate the feelings I had and there was no way I could tell you knowing that I was going to be rejected. Having you in my life as my best friend, and being in agony that I couldn't tell you I loved you the way I truly meant it was better than not having you in my life at all.

"I've tried to tell you a couple of times here pretty recently. The night you came over for movie night: I was just about to tell you when your phone went off in your purse. Saved by the bell, or so they say.

"Then after the opening I thought some on what you said about a new path. And I realized that after Ma had said you were internet dating I wanted to try and tell you how I felt. I wanted to maybe be the person that you could take that new path with. I was finally willing to say something, even if you rejected me. So, I went down to your office, but when I got there you were lost in typing up something on your computer. I flashed back to Ma saying that you had been internet dating and chatting with a man. I figured 'he' had to be the reason for the big smile on your face and I couldn't even bring myself to stay long enough to let you know I'd been in the morgue.

"I figured that if you could find someone on the internet I could at least look into a growing friendship and maybe something more that I'd had going on with this woman online who had read my stories. At the least I was hoping it would allow me to take a step back from thinking about you long enough that I wouldn't become insanely jealous of whoever this man was and give you the chance to be happy.

"So, I talked some more to this woman and decided to meet with her. And I show up to find the woman of my dreams standing there, apparently waiting for me. I was almost like some cruel joke of the universe. Like I said yesterday, a part of me was happy that you finally knew. It was amazing that you had found the stories and that you would now know they were about you and me, but then at the same time I panicked. I wondered what you must be thinking about me. I was afraid you would think I was pathetic because here I was writing this story that was working out great for this couple when I was hiding who I truly am from everyone."

"Jane," Maura said as she laid her hand over the top of Jane's on the counter. "Don't talk like that, please."

Jane took in Maura's voice; it was cracking slightly with some of the words. For the first time since she had looked away not wanting to see the pain she knew would surely be there, she looked up. Tears welled in Maura's eyes. A few of the tears, though not many at this point, had spilled over and made their way down her cheeks. Jane felt like something within her slightly fracture as she took in what she was seeing.

Jane stood up and turned Maura so they were facing directly towards one another. "Will you ever forgive me for the things I've done?" she asked in a whisper as her hand slid along Maura's face to brush away some of the tears.

"Yes," Maura whispered back as her eyes closed and she seemed to melt into the touch from Jane. "But you have to forgive me as well."

Jane's motions stopped and Maura opened her eyes. Jane had a curious look on her face, and Maura knew she was wondering what she was talking about. "I made you feel like you couldn't be yourself with me. You felt like you couldn't tell me who you were without thinking that I would exit your life and I am so sorry about that."

More tears started to spill down Maura's cheeks and Jane couldn't believe what she had heard. Maura thinking that she was to blame for not speaking up sooner. If anything she had also made Maura feel the same way. Jane leaned in, as best she could with her arm still in the sling, and wrapped Maura up in a hug. Instantly she started to feel the hot tears soak into her shirt.

"Shh," Jane tried to sooth her. "Hey," she whispered, "we both made some mistakes and there were things that both of us should have done differently. Now though, we know about them, and the most important thing is that we are going to get past them. Right?"

All Jane could hear was some kind of muffled reply. Maura still had her face buried in her shirt. Though, her shirt had started to feel like it was drying a bit so Maura must have stopped crying. She decided to pull back a bit so she could look at Maura. "Sorry, what was that?" she asked as she turned on a slightly less stunning version of her famous Rizzoli smile.

Maura couldn't help but give Jane a little smile in return. "I said, I hope so." Her voice was still just a touch raspy after everything that had occurred in the last few minutes.

Jane took her hand and pulled Maura's chin up slightly so she could look at her better. She shook her head slightly. "No," she said back, "I know so." She started to lean in towards Maura. She couldn't help it anymore. Many times she had wondered what it would be like to kiss the woman of her dreams and she hoped that now she could find out.

Their lips met and neither could describe the feeling, other than it felt so right. The kiss was light, chaste, but it held the start of something. And it definitely held hope.

Jane soon broke off their kiss, but rested her forehead against Maura's. "I love you," she whispered to Maura just before she kissed her again.

Maura broke their kiss this time. Her eyes still shined from tears, but at this moment they were happy tears. "I love you too," she replied. Maura captured Jane's lips this time and had planned on only coming up for air when it was absolutely necessary.

"I knew it!" they both heard a voice that definitely wasn't a part of their plan. "I knew something was going on between you two. How long has this been going on?"

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**So, there we have it. Who's walked in on the girls, and will they be accepting of how they found them? Come on now, you know we wanna hear what you think! So, please please please click in that little box and leave us a review?!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: Still don't own anything that's R&amp;I related.**

**AN: Hey y'all! Thank you so much for all of you who have read, followed, favorited and reviewed. I loved reading all of the reviews on whom the mystery person is that walked in on the girls last chapter. So now I have some bad news. This is the final chapter of this story. I know, makes me sad too. This story has outshined any of the stories I've written as a single author. This is the longest story, until now I've never hit triple digit reviews on my stories, this one now has the most followers, etc. And all of this is thanks to you readers. Most of all though, this is all because of you SoNFan1978. I know you'll disagree, but there will always be a part of me that considers this as your story and not ours. You didn't have to ever share the idea for this story and you certainly didn't have to ask me for help in writing it. I am so grateful and honored that you allowed me the opportunity to be the person working on it with you. Anyway, on with it. Enjoy!**

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They had both jumped back from the kiss when they first heard the voice. Now as Maura looked up she could see that Jane had one of the most pained expressions on her face that she had ever seen. Jane drew in a deep breath and sighed before she turned around.

"Morning Ma," Jane said as she turned around to face her mother rather than Maura. She was trying to start a new train of thought and distract her mother from the questions she'd just asked.

"Well, good morning to you," she said in a slight huff.

"Angela," Maura greeted the woman quietly.

"I didn't say it was a good morning," Jane retorted. "I still feel like I've been hit by a Mack truck," she said as she took a sip of her coffee she had picked up off of the counter.

"Jane you were nearly…"

"Maur," she interrupted. "I know what happened yesterday," she said snapping at Maura a little more harshly than she'd intended. She saw the look of hurt on Maura's face and set her cup down so she could apologize.

"Well I for one would like to know a little bit more about what happened yesterday," her mother said interrupting her before she could make an apology to Maura. "We make it to the scene to check on you and next thing I know I'm stuck in a waiting room in the hospital, because apparently your emergency contact is Maura, while God only knows what is happening. Then when you do get back from the hospital I'm shooed back to the guest house without really being informed of what's going on and now I walk in on this. So, again, how long has this been going on?"

Both women had gone silent. They didn't really know what to say to anything that Angela had said. Now that they looked at it they did kind of keep Angela at bay yesterday with everything that had gone on, but they just hadn't wanted her to worry. The two of them had everything under control once Maura had convinced Jane to go to the hospital.

"A little less than that rant was from you," Jane finally spoke up.

The other two women in the room looked up. "What?" Angela asked for clarification.

"This," Jane said moving her good arm between herself and Maura to emphasize her point, "has been going on for less time than that rant took, practically. Maura and I had figured out some things about each other and were confronted with it on Sunday morning before dinner. That's why neither of us showed up for dinner. We needed time to think about it.

"Then you cornered me in the café yesterday morning. I had plans to go see Maura yesterday in the morgue to apologize when we got the lead on the case and I had to go. From there you kind of know most of the rest about yesterday. We had just finished the talk we started yesterday in the ambulance when you showed up," Jane finished her explanation and took another sip of her coffee. She didn't know what to expect to hear from her mother about this.

"I'm confused," Angela commented. "What things did you find out about each other that had you fighting in the first place?"

Jane nearly choked on her coffee. Out of all of the things her mother could have focused on from what she said she chose to pick that. Well, at some point she supposed she was going to have to tell her. She set her coffee down and glanced at Maura. She could see Maura nod slightly giving her the little push that she needed to tell her mother what had been going on.

"For a while now I've been writing lesbian fiction and posting it on the internet under a pseudonym. I had a reader that started commenting on my work and after finding out that we lived relatively close to each other we decided to meet. That's where I was Sunday morning. The reader who had been commenting on my work turned out to be Maura." Jane reached out and took Maura's hand in hers. "I freaked out and left from the coffee shop where we met and then everything else happened yesterday."

"Oh, I see," her mother said as she made her way over to the coffee pot to pour herself a cup.

Wait, what? That was not what she had expected to hear her mother say at all. She had expected her to be upset by finding out that her daughter had been secretly writing lesbian fiction and that she had decided to date her best friend who was a woman.

"Maura is my mother experiencing symptoms of shock?" Jane asked in a hushed tone.

"While I would have to do a physical exam to check her heart rate and blood pressure to be certain, she doesn't appear to have any of the signs or symptoms of a person experiencing shock."

Jane and Angela both started chuckling. Apparently they hadn't been speaking as quietly to one another as they had thought. Jane brought Maura's hand to her mouth and kissed the back of it. "I really do love your google mouth."

"To answer that question, I am not experiencing shock Jane," Angela looked over at her daughter sitting at the breakfast bar next to Maura. "I was a little surprised that it took something as random as you writing stories and Maura being a reader of them to get you two together. The rest of us have been waiting trying to figure when you two would finally wake up and finally figure it all out for yourselves."

Both Maura and Jane's mouths dropped open for a second, taking in what Angela had to say. Apparently everyone had known that they were in love with each other. Well, everyone except for the two of them.

"Great," Jane mumbled. "That's just what we needed; for the whole rest of the planet to know about our feelings except for us."

"Oh don't change things up now and decide to be a drama queen," her mother scolded her. "No one's going to say anything about it."

Jane started pacing. She ran her hand first over her face and then through her wild mane of hair trying to process what it was her mother was saying to them. Her mother was really okay with the fact that she was in love with her best friend and the fact that she wrote lesbian fiction.

"I honestly don't understand why it took you two this long for the two of you to get it," her mother commented from the other side of the kitchen.

Jane stopped pacing and looked at her mother. "Well it's a lot to take in. At this point though I don't really think it matters. What's done is done and Maura and I are together now."

"Right," her mother responded.

After that the conversation drifted off and after a few moments of silence things seemed to become awkward with the trio. Jane still paced just a little bit thinking over some things. Maura's eyes drifted her to laptop where she had minimized the window where she'd been reading the story before Jane had walked in that morning. Angela's gaze wandered between the two other women. She took in how she thought a relationship between them would go.

"So," Angela finally spoke up, "how long? What, eighteen months; two years at the most maybe?"

Both women glanced up from their positions with confused looks on their face. "Um, Ma, what are we talking about here?"

"Well you said you were together so I'm taking that to mean that you're about ready to settle down and give me grandchildren. I was just wondering if you had an idea yet on when you would start trying so I'd know when to expect the possibility."

Jane sucked in a deep breath. Maura could feel the tension and anger roll off of Jane even though she was now feet behind her. This was not going to be good and she prepared herself for the worst. "Oh my god, Ma, really!" Jane shrieked from behind her.

"We haven't even been in a relationship for an hour and you are starting in on this!" Though she hadn't looked back at her, Maura could tell that Jane was pacing once again; more frantically though this time. "What gives you any right to think that's an okay topic to talk about at any time, let alone at this moment in time?"

"It's only…"

"No, Ma!" Jane cut her off harshly. "It's only nothing. Look, I am glad that you are able to be around and to get to see you like I do, but you don't get to decide these things." Jane stopped pacing so she could look directly at her as she spoke. "Who I have in my life is my choice. Who I love is my choice. And who I may or may not end up marrying one day and having a family with is my choice. How and when we decide to have a family will be our choice, together, because it's our family."

There was an awkward silence throughout the house as Jane finished her speech. She couldn't believe that she'd really just stood up to her mother about getting into her personal life. "You know what? I can't do this anymore. I'm getting out of here," she said as she took off for the guest room.

She left a stunned Angela and Maura behind her in the kitchen. Maura snapped out of the daze quickly. She knew that she had to stop Jane from doing something crazy and possible injuring herself even more than she had the day before. She spoke up quickly, "Angela, I think it would be best if you gave us a little space right now so I can get Jane calmed down." Though she was trying her best to be polite the words came out with an edge in her voice that told Angela she was all business at this moment.

Angela nodded her head and grabbed the cup of coffee she had been drinking from. Though Maura didn't stick around long enough to see whether or not Angela had really agreed to her demand and would leave. She was more concerned about the state she would find Jane in in the guest room.

Maura quickly made her way to the guest room. She walked straight through the open door expecting to find Jane packing up the small bag of clothes and other items she had gotten from Jane's apartment the evening before. What she found though, stopped her dead in her tracks.

Sitting on the edge of the bed was Jane, just watching her as she entered the room. On her face was one of the famous Rizzoli smirks she had. This one in particular was one Maura could definitely read. It said that Jane knew just what she had been doing and that she knew Maura would follow after her.

Maura slowly walked over to her; the smirk stayed plastered to her face. "What are you doing?" Maura asked her quietly as she stopped in front of Jane.

Jane leaned over a little bit and looked around Maura. She leaned back and looked up before asking, "Do you think she really left?"

"What?" Maura asked her in amazement.

Jane's smirk turned in to a smile as she shrugged her shoulders a little. "I wanted her to leave and I knew there was a better chance of that happening if you told her to because you thought she upset me."

"Jane," Maura said admonishingly as she lightly smacked Jane on her good shoulder making her laugh. "You are just a little too devious sometimes."

"Come on, I wanna see if it's safe to go back into the kitchen and living room now," Jane said standing from the bed. "I was kind of in a drugged state last night and missed the game, so I'd like to try and catch the highlights."

"Now why doesn't that surprise me?" Maura asked playfully.

Jane looked down at the slightly shorter Maura. "Thank you," she whispered seriously. Maura just looked back at her confusedly. "For helping me to get rid of my mother: for the time being," she explained. Her eyes flicked down to Maura's lips for a moment and back up again.

She leaned in and captured Maura's lips. The kiss was sweet, but chaste. It was only meant to emphasize the thanks. She pulled back from the kiss and rested her forehead on Maura's for a moment.

When they finally broke apart she took Maura's hand in her own. Now they needed to find out if her mother really was going to give them the space she wanted and needed.

R&amp;I

Jane and Maura were curled up on the couch together. What had started out as watching the highlights of the game she had missed, had somehow turned into an almost all day TV marathon day. Somewhere around lunch Maura had joined her and they had watched some crazy daytime TV that neither of them usually had the chance to see. After a couple of hours of that Maura had insisted they watch something that had an educational value to it.

Somewhere along the way Jane had fallen asleep for a couple of hours and when she'd woken up their day spent in front of the TV had turned into an impromptu movie night. Maura had ordered Chinese from their favorite take out place and they had curled back up on the couch together.

The movie had just ended and they had decided to flip back over to regular TV and see what was in the news for the day. Though it didn't appear as though their services would have been needed today if they had been able to go in to work; well Maura could go to work whenever she wanted, she just chose to keep Jane company for now.

"Do you want kids?" Maura asked her out of the blue.

Jane turned down the volume on the TV and moved around a little so she could face Maura a bit better. "Is this because of the thing with my mother earlier?"

Maura pulled her bottom lip slightly between her teeth and finally nodded her head. "It's just that you've always gotten angry anytime your mother has brought up the subject and I wanted to be able to understand a little bit better where it comes from."

"For the past few years, the only time my mother has really brought up the subject of her wanting grandchildren it's been attached to her seeing me attached to some hot guy who I'll have pretty babies with. I've known for a while now that that wasn't how I was going to spend the rest of my life, so yeah, I kind of resented the fact that she would bring up the topic in the way that she did. Today was actually the first that she brought up giving her grandchildren with someone who wasn't one of those hot guys. That in itself was kind of nice. Yes, I want to have kids one day, but like I said to her today that decision is ours to make whenever we are ready to make it, and not any sooner than that. It's not any of her business when we decide we're ready and when, or if, we decide we want to share any of that information with her we can, but that will be later on."

"Earlier you said that would be the decision of whoever you were with."

"Yes, I did say that. For the longest time now though, the only person that I've wanted to have a say in that with me is you. I didn't ever expect it to be possible, but now it is."

"Really?" Maura questioned her.

"Really, really," Jane replied.

Maura leaned in and captured Jane's lips. With the kiss she tried to communicate all of the love and happiness she was feeling in that moment. She finally broke the kiss when the need for oxygen became great.

"I love you," she whispered.

"And I love you," Jane replied as she rested her forehead on Maura's.

Suddenly Maura jumped back startling Jane just a little. "What?" Jane asked curiously.

"You know it's been a while since you've updated the story. What's going to happen to Jamie and Maria?"

Jane just flashed Maura one of her big Rizzoli smiles. "Oh, I think everything is going to work out just fine between them," Jane replied knowingly. "I see an amazing future ahead for them."

* * *

**Bear with me for a moment please or skip down to the next paragraph if you don't want to read all of this, but I have one more thing I want to say as this story comes to a close. I, myself, have a personal reason for wishing to finish this story today. A year ago today I responded back to a pm I received from a reader to one of my stories. That reader was SoNFan1978. A year ago today my life changed so much for the better that I couldn't even begin to tell you about it. I never imagined a year ago that I would be where I am now. Bee, I know it hasn't been the best year for either of us, but for me it's been amazing simply for the fact that I've had you in my life. Thank you doesn't seem like enough to say because I don't think there are enough words for what you've done for me this past year. I am forever grateful to have you in my life. Things may not always be the best, but I have faith that it's all going to work out. I wouldn't be here without you. Thank you.**

**And thank you, all of you who have taken the time to read, follow, favorite, and review this story. We really can't say thank you enough, because you all have helped to make the story what it is. We are so glad that you enjoyed it and we hope to see you around on future stories!**


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